The National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr Iyorchia Ayu, has joined the critics of the N100m price for Presidential nomination forms set by the All Progressives Congress (APC).
According to Ayu, any person who spends that money should draw the attention of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
In a statement by his Special Assistant on Communication and Strategy, Simon Imobo-Tswam, he said,
“The APC has disenfranchised thousands of her youths, and dashed the hopes of millions of Nigerian youths who applauded President Buhari when he signed the Not Too Young To Run Bill into law in 2018.”
“In fact, all those buying the N100m and N50m nomination forms should be investigated for fraud.”
He went on to note that the high price fixed by the APC portrayed the party in the image of rogues and hypocrites.
He said, “Nigerians can all see that the APC is: a fragmented alliance put together to capture power and inflict maximum pain on Nigerians, including their own members.”
“Nigerians will recall how in 2014, Muhammadu Buhari, now President and leader of the APC, told Nigerians that he had to borrow N27m to buy his nomination form. The same man, as leader of his party, has now sanctioned the sale of the same forms at N100m.”
“The incompetent APC Presidency has now run the economy aground, making Nigeria the “Poverty capital of the world.” How then can impoverished APC aspirants buy nominations at such prohibitively high costs? And yet, only recently he preached “equal opportunity” to them.”
READ MORE: APC Justify N100m Presidential Nomination Form Fee
The PDP also pegged its own Presidential nomination form at N40 million earlier in the year.
In response to the criticism from the opposition party, the APC has claimed that the PDP did the same while they were in power. Adding that they did so because they felt that their candidates had greater chances of electoral victory.
APC National Youth Leader, Dayo Israel said,
“When they (PDP) were in power, and because the chances of electoral victory were higher, they also sold their nomination forms at higher figures. Our National Working Committee NWC understands the dynamics of what it entails to have the nomination forms at such figures and what we have been able to do is to ensure that despite the prices, young people are able to get a discount, so they can be able to get a level playing ground to compete.”
