Why I Rejected 100 Million Offered To Me To Step Down For Yobe Speaker

A 33-year-old fish seller, Lawan Majakura has disclosed reason for rejecting 100 million naira offered to him to step down for the speaker of the Yobe State House of Assembly, Ahmed Mirwa Lawan, after winning in the 18 March House of Assembly election.

Majakura, in an interview with Daily Trust, disclosed that Lawan’s representative approached him twice to shelve his ambition and end his campaign.

He said he was initially offered N18m before the bid was increased to N100m but he rejected both offers.

The 33-year old house member-elect said his village people, who were mostly farmers and fish sellers, bought nomination forms for him and funded his campaign throughout the electioneering process.

“A government official and some people I thought were his representatives came to me two times, telling me to step down. They promised to give me N18m, but I refused. Later on, they came back and offered me N100m, but still I refused.

“I told them that my village people bought the nomination forms for me because they believed I would do better, so I did not see any reason to step down for anybody. I told them to meet my people if they actually wanted me to step down for whoever sent them to me.

“I even told my people what we discussed but we all agreed that I would not step down, so we moved on with our campaign,” he said.

Majakura, who is a candidate of People’s Democratic Party (PDP) defeated the speaker in a heated election contest.

He scored 6,648 votes, to defeat Mirwa, who scored 6,466 votes.