Dumebi Kachikwu, the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and CEO of Roots TV, on Wednesday revealed that his wife pleaded with him to bribe delegates in the just-concluded presidential primary to avoid disgrace.
He said that despite not spending a dime on delegates before the primary election, he was surprised he defeated aspirants who shared money to delegates.
Kachikwu revealed these while speaking with journalists in Abuja. He also said that after his victory, several calls he put to one of his opponents were not picked nor returned.
He said, “I had a banquet for all the delegates, announced to them that I was an aspirant but told them I didn’t have money (and that) they should vote their conscience so that if I win, my conscience will be free that I didn’t pay.
“If I lost, I have my business to go back to. So, I don’t have to be a President to work for Nigeria. I left them that night, not knowing what my fate would be.
“I announced to them that I was not going to give anybody money. Some were upset, I left them not knowing what my fate was. My opponents shared money to the delegates. In the morning of the next day, my wife said, ‘Please, spend this money on the delegates to avoid disgrace, you have it’ and I told her my conscience forbids that. I thought it was over. I was already delivering my speech accepting defeat when I saw that the body language of the delegates had changed. They were smiling with me.
“The most painful thing was to see losers go to the media to desecrate the process which produced me. They were telling lies to the public.
“I called one of the aspirants that I was coming, he said he wasn’t around Abuja but in Lagos. I flew to Lagos to see him, since then, he didn’t take his calls.”
He also expressed fears over the 2023 elections, saying about 50 million Nigerians who are members of the middle class in the urban areas do not participate in elections because of apathy.
“A country that has the kind of problems we have, we should respond to emergencies. The apathy in government is at an all-time high. It is the reason why the same people continue to come back to governance. About 50 million people don’t take part in democratic governance”, he said.
While acknowledging that there is a very big task ahead, Kachikwu said, “Nigeria is condemned with selfishness and there’s a need to change the way people act, think and reason.”
Kachikwu called on the media to assist him in the rescue mission to salvage Nigeria.
“There’s no common vision tying us as a people, that’s why we kill ourselves every day. The media should give me a chance to run a race and Nigeria will be better for it. If I’m elected the President of Nigeria, I will make a country that works for everyone.”
