DSS urges Buhari to prosecute Oshiomhole for allegedly receiving over $55m bribe - Report

The Department of State Services (DSS) has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to probe the national chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole, for allegedly receiving over $55 million in bribes.

The former Edo State governor had initially been detained by the agency on November 4, 2018 and interrogated for nine hours on allegations made by certain governors that he received bribes to manipulate the APC's primary elections conducted across the country over a month ago.

The agency was also revealed to have compelled Oshiomhole to resign as the APC chairman, but he refused, noting that he still had President Buhari's confidence. That confidence might be on the wane now if the report of the DSS, based on its findings, is anything to go by.

According to SaharaReporters, the report, which has already been forwarded to Buhari, indicated that Oshiomhole most notably received bribes from governorship candidates in Imo, Ogun, and Zamfara states.

"Hope Uzodinma, the APC governorship candidate in Imo State, gave $3 million; Rochas Okorocha, Governor of the state, offered $500,000 but it was rejected; Dapo Abiodun, the APC candidate in Ogun State, paid $5 million. The DSS also said some of the money was paid into Oshiomhole's niece's account," a source told SaharaReporters.

The source also disclosed that the report alleged that Oshiomhole received $17 million as bribe from Zamfara State. A former Ekiti State governor, Niyi Adebayo, and a former Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Farouk Adamu, were listed as his accomplices in the DSS report which has also been forwarded to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

The source noted that the presidency and top party officials including APC national leader, Bola Tinubu and vice president, Yemi Osinbajo, are trying to deal with the controversy as delicately as possible because of the impact it could have on the party's chances in the upcoming 2019 general elections.

The primary elections of the APC to choose candidates to contest in the 2019 general elections has been trailed by a lot of divisions and controversies within the party.

A lot of state governors are openly feuding with Oshiomhole over what they've alleged to be his role in truncating the processes to install certain candidates.

His most notable feuds are with Ogun State governor, Ibikunle Amosun, Imo State governor, Rochas Okorocha, and Zamfara State governor, Abdulaziz Yari who all failed in their bids to handpick their successors.

While he has maintained his innocence about the allegations, Oshiomhole has also decried the role of the DSS in the episode, arguing that it should be investigated by the EFCC instead.