During a meeting with governors of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on Wednesday, President Muhammadu Buhari named Abdullahi Adamu, former Nasarawa State Governor and senator representing Nasarawa West Senatorial District, as his preferred candidate for the party’s chairmanship position.
This followed the president’s statement that he would prefer that the party’s national chairman come from the north-central.
The 75-year-old former governor, who has been a serving senator since 2011, was at the centre of controversies bordering on financial mismanagement at different times.
In February 2010, Adamu was arrested by men of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for allegedly embezzling $100 million meant for public projects while he was governor between 1999 and 2007.
The most recent controversy however was his removal as chairman, Northern Senators’ Forum, in 2018, over allegations of financial mismanagement.
Adamu reportedly claimed that N70 million belonging to the forum had been carted away by monkeys in a farm house belonging to him.
“There are some things some of my colleagues will not say but I’m not used to holding back,” Premium Times quoted Shehu Sani, the then senator representing Kaduna Central Senatorial District, to have said.
“When we assumed office, Senator Ahmed Lawan tendered the sum of N70 million to the 8th Senate. That N70 million was money gathered from the 7th Senate. It was handed over to northern senators of the 8th Senate.
“The rumours going round, which I don’t know whether it’s true but I believe other senators know, is the fact that there were allegations that some monkeys raided the farm house of some of the executives of the northern senators forum and carted away some of these money.
“I think, this country is becoming a huge joke. First of all, it was the rodents that drove away the president and then we now have snakes consuming about N36 million and now we have monkeys raiding farm house. So, they don’t want this to be said but I believe that we should be very clear.”
Adamu declined to speak on the allegation all through the period. He told journalists he would speak at an appropriate time but never did.
