Many Nigerians took to the social media accusing the party of encouraging corruption and for shutting out competent and credible Nigerians from the political space in favour of a clique of those they termed power monger.
Enraged by what was described as an outrageous fee, one of the aspirants for the APC ticket, Adamu Garba, called for a collective action to rescue the country from the stranglehold of the moneybags.
Tweeting at @adamugarba, Garba lamented the strangulation of the nation by moneybags and the buying of political offices, a trend, he said, was “a great disservice to the present and future generation of the nation.
“N100m for the form? Wow! If we don’t come together and use our collective power to save this country from strangulation of the moneybags, we are doing a great disservice to our generation and that of the future. We cannot continue to buy political offices in Nigeria. We need competent leaders come 2023.
Speaking through its general secretary, Chief Sola Ebiseni, pan-Yoruba group, Afenifere, described the APC nomination fee as ridiculous, saying it showed how hugely expensive the nation’s democracy is.
According to Ebiseni, the fee will encourage corruption, inequality and alienation of the common people.
“The cost of the APC nomination forms is only responding to the shameful state of the economy under its government where the rate of inflation is intractable and cost of living unprecedentedly unbearable.
“It is an insulting message to the pauperised Nigerians that they have no say in the governance of Nigeria or any part thereof.”
The group wondered how poor members of the party can participate in the governance of the country, especially where only a political party can field a candidate and no independent candidate is allowed.
Afenifere, however, said the major political parties are on the same page on the fees and guilty of introducing an exorbitant fee for the nomination and expression of interest, saying the two parties set prices for forms for elective offices so high that it would be virtually impossible for poor and honest Nigerians to aspire for top positions in the country.
Though a stalwart of the party and former ambassador to Ukraine, Ibrahim Kasai, admitted that the fee was high, he said the intention was not to deprive people of contesting but to sanitise the processes.
Speaking with Nigerian Tribune, Kasai said the offices of the president and governor, in particular, were not meant for those testing water politically, adding that it was meant for serious-minded people who are adequately prepared for the offices.
“It [the high cost] will also help to fish out those who are serious and as well separate boys from the men.
Apart from this, the party needs money for administrative purposes, it is better than people using their political office to finance party activities,” he said.
A gubernatorial aspirant on the platform of APC in Plateau State, Chief Amos Gizo, said the fees would definitely prune down the number of aspirants, adding that some of those who had shown interest did not know the rudiments of politics.
“Because of the fees, most of the aspirants will not be able to purchase the form. If you have N50 million, you still have the delegates to contend with, definitely, this is not a child’s play but on the other side, it does not speak well for our democracy, because it will make the situation worse than what it used to be,” he said.
A state party official who spoke with Nigerian Tribune on condition of anonymity said this step will separate the boys from the men, adding that most of those gallivanting around in the guise of contesting have no business of being in the race
Kperogi, HURIWA speak
A professor of journalism and celebrated columnist, Farooq Kperogi, accused the Federal Government of double standards in passing the Not-Too-Young-To-Run law, as well as pegging the presidential nomination and expression of interest forms at N100 million.
Kperogi, via his Twitter handle, @farooqkperogi, said the APC was clearly telling young Nigerians that they cannot run for the presidency.
He tweeted: “How do you simultaneously tell young people that they can and can’t run for the highest office in the land? Pass a law that says they can (Not Too Young To Run) but then raise the fee for the nomination form to N100 million. Maybe we need another legislation called ‘Not Too Poor to Run’.”
Also, a rights group, the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), urged the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to probe the source of wealth of any APC aspirant who picks the party’s presidential nomination and expression of interest forms.
The group said this in a statement on Wednesday, signed by its national co- ordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko.
Similarly, Head, Department of Jurisprudence and International Law, Faculty of Law, University of Ibadan, Professor Oluwole Akintayo, warned that such outrageous cost of nomination form “suggests to reasonable Nigerians and others that the aspirants are being encouraged to enrich themselves, apparently through corrupt means if they succeed to get elected.”
Akintayo, who is also former chairman, the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), Ibadan branch, said with such prohibitive fees, the parties are discriminating against honest and diligent Nigerians who have the capacity to serve Nigeria but not the kind of money to be paid for the nomination forms.
He said: “Political parties spend considerable amount to organise primaries and on other related activities. It is not out of place if they charge reasonable amounts for purchase of nomination forms. However, a political party must be careful to keep its fees within reasonable limits. “In my own view, it is on the high side demanding N100 million and N50 million from aspirants to the offices of the president and governors respectively.
“Are there data to back up the figures? Are the fees not arbitrary? Is the party trying to recover the money to be expended on the conduct of primary elections or is the money to swell the fund to be used for the 2023 general election?
“Members of the political party must demand answers to this question. We must not forget that candidates who indicated interest in the office of the national chairman of APC paid N20 million non-refundable fee.
“Aspirants to state offices will still spend money on primary elections. Then when a person emerges as the party’s candidate, he will spend money on the general election
“Notwithstanding the value of the naira, N100 million and N50 million are not easy to come by. I don’t know how much a governor earns in a year but if he earns above N50 million, that amount must be a considerable percentage of his annual salary? Does the government pay a director in the civil service N50 million in a year?”
The Centre for Community Empowerment and Poverty Eradication (CCEPE), Kwara State, through its executive director, Abdulrahman Akindele Ayuba, said no ordinary party man could afford the fee.
“If you want political space to be democratic and you don’t want to encourage corruption and untoward action by people who want to venture into politics, I think the N100 million and N50 million fees for nomination forms is unacceptable for us as citizens.”
A senatorial aspirant for Oyo Central, Mr Oyeleru Oyedemi, said such exorbitant fee is not a good idea in the interest of the nation.
Though Oyedemi said such would restrain aspirants who only seek offices to negotiate for other things, he said the danger is that it could debar those who really want to serve.
He, however, said he was undeterred in getting the senatorial nomination and expression of interest forms, but said his concern was that the average Nigerian, with genuine desire to serve, may find it difficult to cough out such millions of naira for the forms.
A right activist, Comrade Mark Adebayo, disapproved the exorbitant fee, saying it is designed for the moneybags to fully hijack the political process. Adebayo, who is also a chieftain of KOWA, said the action underscored the deliberate act to marginalise interested, committed and patriotic Nigerians who could make a significant difference in the polity but had no access to humongous resources.
The right activist declared that it was a direct assault on the Not-Too-Young-To-Run Act as, according to him, there are many young people in this country today who could not afford the exorbitant cost of those forms.
