The All Progressives Congress has said that the sum of $50,000, which went missing at the APC’s National Secretariat on Wednesday does not belong to the party.

The Star had reported that the money was allegedly stolen at the APC’s National Secretariat when scores of the ruling party members aspiring for various positions in the 2023 general election stormed the secretariat to purchase the party’s nomination forms.

It was learnt that the incident, which led to confusion at the Buhari House occurred at the main entrance gate of the national secretariat due to the inability of the security operatives to curtail the surging crowd that grounded human and vehicular activities.

However, the APC, while reacting to the incident, denied that the stolen money belonged to the party.

The ruling party, in a statement issued and made available to The Star on Thursday by the APC National Publicity Secretary, Barr. Felix Morka, noted that the loss was not connected to the proceeds from the sale of the party’s nomination forms.

Morka added that aspirants were directed to make deposits in the designated account numbers before picking up their forms at the party’s secretariat.

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The statement titled, ‘Re: Lost money at APC National Secretariat’, read: “Our attention has been drawn to reports in sections of the media regarding lost US Dollars at the National Secretariat of the All Progressives Congress.

“On Wednesday, April 27, 2022, a sum of $50,000 was reported lost by an individual around the entrance gate of the National Secretariat of the Party.

“To be clear, the lost money does not belong to the party. The loss is neither connected with proceeds of sale of forms nor with relocation of the venue for the collection of Expression of Interest and Nomination Forms from the secretariat grounds to the International Conference Centre (ICC), as erroneously reported by the media.

“The party’s decision to relocate the venue for collection of forms to the ICC was to ease heavy human and vehicular traffic around the secretariat with teeming aspirants and their supporters who thronged the Secretariat to collect forms.

“As widely advertised and reported in major news outlets, all purchase of forms are payable to designated bank accounts of the party. In any event, the fee for the said forms is set and denominated in Naira not US Dollars.

“We urge our party members and the general public to disregard any reports or suggestion to the contrary as false and grossly misleading,” the APC spokesman stated.

The Star