Ibrahim Oloriegbe: 17 Delegates Refunded Money I Gave Them When I Lost

The lawmaker representing Kwara Central district, Senator Ibrahim Oloriegbe, says he got a refund of the cash he gave to delegates of the All Progressives Congress (APC) during the party’s primaries.

He stated this during his appearance on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Wednesday.

The funds given to the delegates were for logistics, according to him.

Oloriegbe is among several other members of the party in the Senate who lost their party’s ticket to seek re-election into the red chamber of the National Assembly.

The lawmaker faulted the process with which the primaries were conducted and accused the governors of imposing delegates on party supporters.

He said, “There was no congress; like in my state, the governor just handpicked them (the delegates) one night and said we have done primaries and the list came. So, you don’t even know who the delegates are … and this happened in several states.

“Even where people are selected, they should be given the freedom to exercise their franchise by voting for who they want, but it was not like that. The governors selected those to whom they would give instructions and some of them took an oath to vote where the governors direct them … and this was what happened in Kwara State.

“In my own election (primary), 17 delegates came back to give me money which I gave them for logistics; others did not because they said ‘we wanted to vote for you, but we are not allowed to vote’. There was one of my colleagues in Kogi who mentioned that people came back (to return his money).”

In 2019, former Senate President Bukola Saraki lost his seat to Oloriegbe.