Human rights lawyer Mike Ozekhome claims that the All Progressives Congress (APC) is monetizing democracy.
Following a meeting of the party’s national executive committee on Wednesday, the party revealed its primary election schedule for the 2023 elections (NEC).
The party also confirmed the nomination fees: presidential candidates would pay N100 million, while gubernatorial candidates will pay N50 million.
The cost of a nomination form for the state house of assembly is N2 million, N10 million for the house of representatives, and N20 million for the senate.
The cost of the nomination forms has drawn mixed reactions on social media, with some calling the costs “exorbitant” in light of current economic conditions.
Also Read: Any Presidential Aspirant Who Buys N100m APC Forms Should Be Probed – PDP Chairman
Ozekhome called the party’s choice a “mockery of democracy” in a statement released on Thursday.
Most of the candidates, including politicians, should be unable to purchase the forms legally due to their money, according to the human rights lawyer.
Even more concerning, he said, is the fact that the APC prides itself on being a party that opposes corruption.
“The vulgarity of this exercise lies not just in the abominable fee prescribed, but more in the party’s pretentious mantra of fighting corruption, using a well orchestrated and carefully oiled Hitler’s Goebel’s propagandist machinery of dubious pedigree,” he said
“President Muhammed Buhari and the APC have, by this singular act, exhibited a very odious and unpleasant example of how not to fight corruption.
“They have managed to convince Nigerians that politics is indeed the art of grand deception, double-dealing, duplicity, beguilement, sham and self contradiction.”
He criticised the president for supporting the N100 million sum despite his complaint in 2015 when a N27.5 million levy was imposed on hopefuls for the presidential nomination forms.
