the All Progressives Congress (APC), has suffered a setback as President
Muhammadu Buhari has told the party’s leadership that N55 million is
too high for him.
The President had four years ago complained over
the N27.5 million nomination forms for the Presidential ticket and had
argued that if he had his way, he would have ensured downward review of
the fees.
But the National Working Committee of the APC has
reviewed the nomination forms upward to the tune of N55 million. While
the Presidential Nomination form goes for N50 million, the Expression of
Interest Form costs N5 million.
A member of the National
Executive Committee of the party told the Sunday Telegraph in an
exclusive interview that the President “has complained to the party that
he could not afford it.”
The NEC source said that “the
President had told the NWC members that he was a salary earner,
therefore he does not have such money to purchase the nomination forms
of the party.”
Also reviewed upward are the cost of
nomination forms for the governorship, senatorial, House of Reps and
State House of Assembly forms.
For the APC governorship ticket,
the party reviewed the nomination forms from N5.5 million to N22.5
million, senatorial ticket from N3.3 million to N8.5 million, House of
Representatives from N2.2 million to N6.5 million and state House of
Assembly from N550, 000 to N1.1 million.
Members of the Not-to-Young-to-Run in APC have vowed to protest the high cost of nomination forms.