I was twice arrested and given N100m to resign: 33-year-old volunteer teacher who prevented Yobe Speaker from winning a sixth term

 

In the recently completed State Assembly elections, Lawan Musa Majakura, a 33-year-old volunteer teacher, defeated Ahmed Mirwa Lawan, the Speaker of the Yobe State House of Assembly, and claims that he was paid N100m to resign.

Yobe Speaker of the All Progressives Congress (APC) was defeated by Musa of the People's Democratic Party (PDP), who received 6,648 votes against Yobe's 6,466. 

The father of four, who revealed this in an interview with the Daily Trust, claimed that a government official and a few other persons asked him to resign as Speaker in exchange for an initial offer of N18 million, which they eventually raised to N100 million. 

To be completely honest with you, he didn't ask me to step down on his behalf; instead, a government official and several individuals I mistakenly believed to be his representatives approached me twice and requested that I do so. I declined their offer of N18 million that they had made. Later, they returned and offered me N100m, but I continued to say no," he said.

"I told them that my villager supporters had purchased my candidacy papers because they thought I would perform better, thus I did not see a reason to resign for anyone. If they wanted me to leave for whatever sent them, I told them to come meet my folks. I even informed my family what we talked about however, we all decided that I would not resign, so we continued our campaign," he stated.