A claim that ministers paid billions of naira for posts drew a demand for names from former Vice President Atiku Abubakar as President Bola Tinubu’s party opened its 2027 campaign in Kaduna on Oct. 24.
The State House said the All Progressives Congress (APC) campaign flag-off took place at Ranchers Bees Stadium. Two days earlier, APC Presidential Campaign Council spokesperson Alwan Hassan discussed the alleged payments in an Arise News interview.
Hassan said ministers paid “billions and billions” for appointments and might try to recoup the money after taking office. Arise described the sums as naira, although Hassan’s quoted words did not specify a currency or an exact total. He also said the practice predated the APC.
The interview accounts identify no minister, payer, recipient or transaction; the sources reviewed cite no official finding. Atiku described the alleged payments as bribes in an Oct. 23 post on X and called on Tinubu to name those involved. “Nigerians deserve names, not silence,” he wrote. Atiku also argued that Nigerians bore the cost when ministry funds were withheld. His call for Tinubu to identify the alleged recipients was the subject of earlier EconoTimes coverage.
BusinessDay reported that APC National Director of Publicity Bala Ibrahim called Hassan’s remarks “misinterpreted and blown out of proportion.” The outlet also reported that former presidential candidate Chekwas Okorie warned the allegation could hurt the APC’s campaign, while political scientist Bernard Mikko said it conflicted with the party’s anti-corruption pledge.
A similar allegation surfaced in March 2025, when former Kaduna State governor Nasir el-Rufai said in a BBC Hausa interview that he knew people who had paid to become ministers, Arise News reported. Arise’s account did not name them.
