Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, HURIWA, has condemned the recently-released costs of presidential forms of the All Progressives Congress (APC), saying it is only armed robbers, kidnappers and drug dealers that can afford the party’s presidential
forms.
The ruling party had announced on Wednesday that the party’s forms for a Presidential ticket will be sold at N100 million, governorship aspirants cost N50 million; Senate, N20 million; House of Representatives, N10 million and State Houses of Assembly, N2 million.
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But in its swift reaction, HURIWA, who expressed at the party’s cost of presidential forms, noted that “It is inconceivable that a citizen of Nigeria who made his money through legitimate means can afford to fritter away the princely sum of N100 million just because he or she wants to put himself out to become the servant of the people of Nigeria.”
It stressed that: “Only political rogues, drug peddling gangsters or persons involved in armed robbery or kidnappings for ransom can afford to gamble away such a lifelong fortune.”
The rights group said that anyone who buys the nomination form at such a scandalous high amount of cash should first be arrested by the citizens and handed over to law enforcement agencies such as EFCC or ICPC or Police for investigation on the source of the money.
The group also warned that “The irrational and criminally minded rationale for scaling up the cost of Presidential forms to such a humongous amount as announced by the APC, will inevitably affect the value of the Naira given that economic saboteurs who had siphoned public funds and warehoused the stolen money in the dollar-denominated currency will now bring them out to search for N100 million equivalence of the stolen dollars from public coffers to buy presidential nomination from thereby limiting the Naira in circulation for legitimate businesses.”
The Rights group also expressed worry that Nigerian “banks may actually give out depositors’ money to the power-hungry, filthy politicians to gamble away in buying the nomination form at the APC’s Secretariat, since seeking to serve Nigerians in the thinking of these misguided party leaders has become a MONEY GUZZLING VENTURE OR A PONZI SCHEME.”
“We were only just finished carpeting opposition Peoples Democratic Party for bastardizing the process of nominating its presidential candidate by inflating the cost of the nomination form to a princely sum of N40 million, little did we know that the politicians who run the Federal Government and have ruined the national economy will peg theirs at the extravagant cost of N100 million just to spite the opposition politicians and to make fun at Nigerians as captives who as hostages of politicians can’t do nothing to checkmate this rascality of the political forces”, it said.
The group in a statement signed by its National coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko, further said: “This same APC government is unable to meet the funding obligations for federal universities and thereby left millions of students of public schools to roam around in their homes due to industrial strike by university teachers (ASUU) for over two months, yet the politicians have hidden enough stolen cash to buy presidential forms at N100 million each.
“It is a shame that those who seek to govern Nigeria are made to cough out so much money to purchase forms just to signpost their original intention as persons whose only objective would be to first recoup their huge investments and to further impoverish the citizenry.
“We urge Nigerians to initiate citizen’s arrest of anyone who buys the APC Presidential form at the rate of N100 million so the relevant law enforcement agencies are handed over these suspects to explain their source of such huge funds,” the group added
