Tosin Ajirire, a seasoned reporter with the Nigerian Sun Newspaper, has stated that the main goal of the Islamic organization founded in Nigeria that claimed to be supporting Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia’s candidacy for Vice President of Ghana is to bring together the leaders of Northern Nigeria.
According to him, the group was established in order to foster cooperation and advancement in the Northern Region, amongst leaders of Northern descent. He added that in Nigeria, the group only serves that purpose.
However, when asked if the organization had ever supported political parties, Mr. Tosin Ajirire responded, “No, they can’t fund a political party. Even though some of their members can do so, that will be underground.”
“They can’t come and say they are funding a political party; it is not constitutional in Nigeria. But their members can contribute to some political members, not a party but as a group.”
Tosin Ajirire
In the interim, the Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia camp has strongly denied the assertion made by Nigerian journalist, David Humdeyin that Bawumia is receiving funding from the organization. For the avoidance of doubt, the team claimed that the Bawumia Campaign receives no money from or affiliation with any Islamic organization in Nigeria or elsewhere.
In the statement, David Humdeyin was charged with spreading unfounded declarations about various individuals and groups in Nigeria. Furthermore, it declared that the “obviously false” and “fabricated” assertions that “only serve the propaganda purposes of its promoters” will not divert the camp’s goal.
The accuser, David Humdeyin, posted a remark on a tweet encouraging Nigerians to support local media so that they could project themselves as the best storytellers in the world.
David Humdeyin however, claimed in a series of responses that think tanks and lobby groups engage in unfathomable amounts of domestic and international political astroturfing each year, spending millions of dollars on it. That was where he mentioned that the ACF is supporting Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, a Muslim, in Ghana’s 2024 Presidential Race.
The aforementioned organization, the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), is a political and cultural alliance of Northern Nigerian leaders that was established in 2000 and has a sizable impact on the political landscape. The Northern People’s Congress (NPC), which disintegrated following the coup of 1966, was replaced by this group.
In the meantime, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia is conducting a statewide campaign to persuade delegates to support him at the August 26, 2023 Super Delegates’ Congress and the subsequent November 4, 2023 Main Congress.
Islamic Group Funding Bawumia A Blatant Lie
According to Mr. Peter Mac Manu, a former National Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), the assertion that Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia’s candidacy for NPP flagbearer is being funded by an Islamic outfit with its headquarters in Nigeria, is untrue.
He claimed that the NPP and the Vice President are the targets of this campaign which intends to cause damage to both the party and the Veep’s reputations, but the party would not tolerate it.
“I associate myself with the response from the Bawumia campaign team that it is not true. Absolute falsehood…I have the firm belief that what the Bawumia team has said is the truthfulness of the case. It is meant to tarnish the image of Dr Bawumia and the NPP, and we will not accept that.”
Peter Mac Manu
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