Former Zamfara State Governor, Abdul-Aziz Yari, spent a staggering $72 million in his bid to emerge as the countrys number three citizen, according to a fresh report.
Recall that former Akwa-Ibom State governor, Godswill Akpabio, who edged out Yari to clinch the senate presidency last week, was the anointed candidate of President Bola Tinubu. He was also favoured by the APC zoning arrangement.
Distraught by the outcome of the upper legislative chamber leadership election, Yari reportedly landed in a hospital in London, United Kingdom shortly after losing his Senate Presidential bid.
According to reports, Yari lost at least $72 million in the process, as he allegedly gave senators at least $500,000 each to secure their votes. The reports said that some of the senators who were paid by Yari, however, abandoned him at the last minute, dealing the former governor a fatal blow that took massive toll on his health.
Out of the 109 Senators in the upper legislative chambers of the National Assembly, Akpabio, an All Progressives Congress (APC) lawmaker from Akwa-Ibom (South-South), won with 63 votes. Senator Abdul-Aziz Yari, from Zamfara North-West, who is also of the APC, got 46 votes.
Yari was reportedly devastated by the loss to Akpabio as he was certain that he would get votes from the senators he gave money,
The reports said he was also swindled by his Campaign Director of Operations, Jimoh Ibrahim, as he reportedly refused to hand out the full package Yari gave him to deliver to the senators.
In an interview with BBC Hausa, Yari lamented that there was a gang-up of some top government officials against him. He said from his analysis before the election, he had more people on his side, adding that he didnt contest against Akpabio.
