*Asks presidential aspirants to pay N100m for nomination forms, governorship aspirants N50m
*Members grumble, say political offices not to the highest bidder
There is high level grumbling among the ranks of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) as the party’s leadership rose from their meeting and pegged the Expression of Interest and Nomination Forms for its presidential aspirants at N100 million.
Similarly, same forms for those seeking the party’s ticket to contest the governorship election in their respective states have been pegged at N50 million.
The APC National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morgan, announced this on Wednesday at a briefing with reporters in Abuja.
He added that State House of Assembly forms goes for N2 million; House Of Representatives N10 million, while the nomination forms for the Senate goes for N20 million.
Reaction of party members across the country, showed a huge disappointment as members decried such unprecedented monetisation of democratic process, saying it will entrench mediocrity as the party’s tickets would be available only to the highest bidders.
Ahead of the party’s primary and general elections, several chieftains of the ruling party, including aides to President Muhammadu Buhari and serving governors, have indicated interest to succeed him when his tenure comes to am end in 2023.
They include Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, former Governor Bola Tinubu, Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi, Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi, as well as ministers Rotimi Amaechi (Transportation) and Chris Ngige (Labour and Employment), among others.
Before the briefing by the party’s spokesman, President Buhari presided over an extraordinary emergency meeting of the APC National Executive Committee.
Among those present were Professor Osinbajo, President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan; Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila; and Governor Fayemi of Ekiti, and other party leaders.
The NEC also resolved to vest its powers on the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party for the next 90 days.
The resolution followed a motion moved by Sen. Lawan and seconded by Speaker Gbajabiamila.
Before the decision, APC National Chairman, Sen. Abdullahi Adamu, informed the party that the NWC has begun the process of uniting aggrieved members and discussing the coming elections.
He stated that the party’s underlying problem was a crisis fuelled by ego.
He lamented that ego has widened the gap between the former and serving governors adding that, there is no reason for the competition.
He reminded the party’s stakeholders of the experiences of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2014 and how it lost the presidential election in 2015 due to disunity.
He also cautioned the party’s past governors against undermining serving governors in their states, saying that they remained the party’s leaders in their respective states.
“The APC Constitution states that serving governors are the state leaders, therefore the past governors must act like states men and provide guidance,” Adamu said.
He said that the party constitution only recognised serving governors as their states leaders, adding that there was no need for competition and rivalry between past and serving governors.
He added that the National Working Committee (NEC) was open to suggestions on how to move the party forward, saying that it doesn’t have monopoly of knowledge.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the APC NEC is the second highest decision making organ of the party.
Reacting to the humongous fees levied for nomination forms, APC members across the country lamented that only a few members of the party can afford the amount, thereby excluding millions of its members from perticipating in the democratic process.
Alhaji Tijjani Adamu (Kano); Barassie Umar(Jigawa); Ubale Mohammed (Katsina); John Ude (Enugu); Shola Ibrahim (Ogun); Mustapha Abubakar (Kwara) in response to questions posed to them wondered why the new national leadership have decided to impose such humongous amount of money on aspirants.
They expressed worries that people with character and pedigree, who do not have deep pocket, will become disenfranchised.
They called on President Muhammadu Buhari to weigh in on the party’s decision, especially in respect of his anti-curruption mantra.
They argued that both the successful aspirants and successful ones will all struggle to recoup their money even by fair or faul means, stressing that there should be no room for tempting party members to the recourse to criminality for whatever reason.
