The Coalition of Southern and Middle Belt Youth Leaders Assembly (COSMBYLA), has asked the All Progressives Congress (APC) to review its outrageous fees for nomination forms for aspirants in the 2023 general elections, saying that the fees confirm the party as “a cesspool of corruption.”
APC, last week, fixed its nomination and expression of interest forms at N100 million for presidential; N50 million for governorship; N20 million for senatorial and N10 million for House of Representative forms.
Rising from their meeting in Enugu, the umbrella youth association says the mere approval of the fees for a job regarded as service to Nigerians means the party was not interested in the survival of the country.
In a statement released after the meeting signed by the President General of COSEYL, Goodluck Ibem; Coordinator, Middle Belt Youth Presidents, Terrence Kuanum; Coordinator, South West Youth Leaders Forum (SWYLF), Shittu Waheed and President, South South Youth Forum (SSYF), Tito Zokumor, they said that the fees definitely would not allow the youths interested in elective office to run on the party’s platform.
They recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari, who was a presidential aspirant in 2014, had criticised the party for fixing an “exorbitant” fee of N27.5 million for the presidential forms ahead of the 2015 general elections, but wondered how he could “sit on the sideline and watch while the party’s leaders fixed the exorbitant fees that is choking prospective aspirants for the 2023 general elections.”
They argued: “The annual salary of the president of Nigeria is N14,058,820.00k. In 4 years it would be N56, 235, 280.00k. How will someone apply for a job with N100 million, other campaign expenses exclusive, just to earn N56,235,280.00k.
“As youth leaders of this country who have the interest of our nation Nigeria at heart, We demand to know how someone whose salary will amount to N56,235,280 in 4 years will be applying for the same job with a whopping sum of N100 million”.
The youth leaders also spoke of the implication of the high fees thus: “If an APC presidential aspirant brings out N100 million to purchase his party’s Presidential forms, spend all the monies needed to campaign round the country and settle political party heavy weights; if the person eventually wins and is sworn-in as President, he will empty country’s treasury to repay.”
