APC spokesman's claim that ministers pay billions for jobs: what we know

A spokesman for President Tinubu's re-election campaign, Alwan Hassan, said on live television that many ministers pay “billions” of naira to get appointed and then try to recover the money in office. He named no one and gave no evidence. Four days on, the remark is still one of the most talked-about political stories on Nigerian social media.

Hassan, a spokesperson for the APC Presidential Campaign Council, made the claim on Arise Television's Prime Time programme on Thursday 22 October while defending the President's record. “A lot of ministers pay billions to be appointed, and the first thing they think of is how to recoup that money after being appointed,” he said, BusinessDay reported.

He insisted the practice was not limited to the current government. “It is the truth about our country and not just APC ministers; it started before the APC,” he said. He also suggested the President keeps tight control of ministry budgets partly because of this.

On Friday, ADC presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar challenged the President on X to say who received the money. “You appointed them, so who received the money? Nigerians deserve names, not silence,” he wrote. Others online called for the EFCC to investigate.

Criticism has also come from within the President's camp. Denge Josef Onoh, a former South-East spokesperson for Tinubu's 2023 campaign, asked Hassan to name the ministers, the middlemen, the amounts and the dates, Vanguard reported. He warned that such claims damage Nigeria's reputation abroad.

The APC says the remark has been blown out of proportion. The party's National Director of Publicity, Bala Ibrahim, told BusinessDay that Hassan “meant no bad” and may have exaggerated in a heated interview. He argued that no rational person would pay billions for a job whose salary is less than ₦1 million, and predicted the row would “die a natural death”.

As of Monday, Hassan had not named any minister or offered evidence, and no anti-corruption agency had announced an investigation. The claim remains unproven.

Pidgin: Alwan Hassan, one spokesman for APC presidential campaign, talk for Arise TV say plenty ministers dey pay billions of naira to get appointment, then dem go dey find how to recover the money. E no call any name and e no show evidence. Atiku and others dey ask make dem name the people, while APC talk say dem blow wetin e talk out of proportion.

How this affects you: Ministers manage the money meant for your roads, schools and hospitals. If appointments were really being bought, it would help explain why public funds go missing, which is why many Nigerians want the claim either proven or withdrawn. For now it is an unproven claim, and no agency has said it is investigating.