Following the outlandish cost of nomination and expression of interest forms for presidential aspirants on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), a civil society group has said that only drugs barons and armed robbers could afford such humongous amount to vie to become a presidential candidate.

“No decent businessman can fritter away N100 million on a project he is only going to compete with others and may not enjoy the right of refunds. Only drug barons and armed robbers can run for the Presidency under the All Progressives Congress,” the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) said in a statement endorsed by its National Coordinator, Comrade Emma Onwubiko, on Thursday.

HURIWA told the APC national hierarchy to cover their faces in unmitigated shame and opprobrium for trying to create phantom justification for why the party has pegged her Nomination fee and Expression of Interest form to contest to be the Presidential Candidate of the ruling Party in the 2023 polls at N100 million.

It said the APC must be made up of leaders that have lost touch with realities and bent on selling their presidential ticket to the highest bidder, no matter how roguish or criminal way the person may have raised the exorbitant fees.

The rights group has, therefore, asked the National Publicity Secretary of APC to stop celebrating his ignorance in trying to buy credibility for the decision of his party to peg the Presidential nomination fees at N100 million when the combined total of the salaries of Professor Yemi Osinbanjo for eight years is not near enough that amount.

According to the group, APC National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, had said that the ruling party advised itself on the price tags on its nomination forms.

The rights group recalled that the APC announced on Wednesday that the party’s forms for Presidential ticket will be sold at N100 million, governorship N50 million; Senate, N20 million; House of Representatives, N10 million and State Houses of Assembly, N2 million.

“We beg of the grossly disrespectful PRO of the APC to stop insulting the psyche and intelligence of Nigerians by trying to provide fallacious justification for this ill-advised decision of his party. To tell you that APC is behaving like a political gathering of daylight robbers, they are making N100 million look cheap when a Permanent Secretary in a civil service may need two life times to gross that amount as legitimate salaries.

“How could he have insulted Nigerians in such a fashion because when asked if the price tag was in line with the present economic situation in the country, the APC Spokesperson, in an interview with Channels Television, said, ‘What is the current situation in the country? We still live in a country where there are people who make legitimate money.’ And on whether the party is for the rich, he said, ‘The party is not for the rich. I just told you that, for instance, any woman who wants to run for the office of the President is not paying the full amount; the youths as well.’ When asked who advised the party on the price tags, he said, “The party advised the party. The party thinks that…and made the decision that the value put on these forms are justified’,” HURIWA stated.

It dismissed the ruling party’s mouthpiece's effort to try to mitigate the ethical damage and the credibility crisis that the fixing of the exorbitant cost of the Presidential nomination fees has caused his party by saying youths and the physically challenged are not expected to pay close to the high fees of N100 million.

The Civil Society Organization maintained that the APC was wrong to fix their ticket for Presidential form at N100 million because it has shown the party as a collective of shylock and greedy cash-chasing, money guzzling political gamblers who are in politics for the cash they can loot.

“There is no logical justification for such a crazy fees because it is even a violation of the Not Too Young To Run law which the President signed,” HURIWA added, contending that the high fees show that “APC is telling us that only looters can afford their ticket. Nigerians must come out and condemn this show of shame and the promotion of ostentatious appearances and inordinate wealth.”

“Who is that youth that can afford 50 per cent of the N100 million fees if the APC is saying youths would get a rebate? And even if youths can get that much to fritter on a nomination form, the intention and import conveyed by the APC is that politics is for the highest bidders and for those heartless enough to loot the Nation's treasury mindlessly because the logic of paying so much to obtain a ticket is that when you win the all-powerful position of President of Nigeria, you expect to gain so much through illegitimate and criminal means,” the group reasoned.

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