TheCable

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has been funding Boko Haram with the financial aid its governors receive from the European parliament, a leading Austrian politician has alleged.

Franz Obermayr (pictured), a senior member of the European parliament, asked the European Commission to probe the allegation, claiming the Nigerian leading opposition party has political and financial ties to the terror group.

“Many policy makers in Europe are unfortunately often too careless when it comes to contacts and financial support for associations and political parties, which in reality [are] front groups and so often opens the door for radical Islamist groups to the European institutions act,” he said.

He said leading figures of APC “are always associated with radical Islam and its terrorist groups”.

APC spokesman, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, described Obermayr’s allegation as “political” in an SMS response to TheCable.

Naming states being governed by the APC in the north-east, Obermayr said the aid was being channelled to financing terror.

Obermayr recalled that General Muhammadu Buhari, “also the most important man of the APC”, told The Guardian of London in 2001 that Sharia should be introduced all over Nigeria, even “in the Christian-dominated south”.

The MP asked EU election observers to examine the relationship between parties and terrorist groups in Nigeria and draw “appropriate conclusions”.

APC has consistently denied allegations of funding Boko Haram, saying they are politically motivated in its endless confrontations with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The latest allegation is coming after a heated exchange between the two parties over Senator Ali Modu Sheriff who recently left APC for PDP.

Sheriff was named by Australian negotiator, Dr. Stephen Davies, as a sponsor of Boko Haram ─ in what was essentially a reinforcement of an allegation that was already in the public domain.

Andrew Rosindell, a member of the UK parliament, has also called for an inquiry into the relationship between members of APC and Boko Haram.

Former minister of aviation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, left APC early this year accusing some members of the party of having sympathy for Boko Haram.

APC denied all the allegations.