An All Progressives Congress (APC) senatorial aspirant in Ekiti State, Rev (Dr) Emmanuel Abiodun Dada has decried the high cost of nomination forms for various elective positions in different political parties, particularly the ruling party.
Dr Dada, who is the chairman of the Houston, Texas branch of the APC, made the remark at a press conference in Lagos. He said it is appalling that the nomination process has been hijacked by moneybags and is now beyond the reach of ordinary Nigerians.
The professor of Chemical Engineering at the Prairie A & M University, Prairie View, Texas, USA, was seeking the party’s nomination to represent Ekiti Central at the upper legislative chamber. But, he said he cannot in all conscience spend N20 million for the nomination form because the party authorities have already decided who among the aspirants they are going to give the ticket.
He said: “Today, mark another sad day in the history of our country, Nigeria, where we are witnessing the current unacceptable ‘money baggie’ of Nigerian democracy where the nomination process has been sold to the highest bidders out of reach of ordinary Nigerians. Participatory democracy is only for the ruling class who have stolen Nigerians’ wealth with corruption at the highest level where for example the fee for a Senate nomination form in the APC is N20 million… which is more than double the total annual basic salary for a senator.
“I can afford it, but there is no justification for these astronomical price tags and neither can it be rationalized, given the wide margin of disparity of the nomination fees of different political parties. I have spent many years of my adult life criticizing corruption in our society; I will not and cannot in clear conscience be part of selling and mortgaging the future of our country by buying the senatorial nomination form through my party, the APC for N20 million.
“Therefore, I have withdrawn my quest to seek the party’s ticket to represent Ekiti Central at the Senate. I have been a loyal member of my party for almost 20 years through many stages of changing its name from Alliance for Democracy (AD), Action Congress (AC), Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), to the present day APC.”
The United States-based APC chieftain urged the authorities to renew the hope of Nigerians in the future of the country by hearkening to the call for restructuring. He said the 1999 Constitution is a fraud because it was forced on hapless Nigerians and that it is high time the country returned to a modified regional system of government where the six geo-political zones would constitute the federating units.
He said it is unfortunate that Nigeria has been doing the same thing over the years and expecting a different result.