The national chairman of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr Iyorchia Ayu, has asked anti-graft agencies to go after any All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential aspirant who purchases the N100 million nomination and expression of interest forms.
Ayu, in a statement Issued on Thursday by his Special Adviser on Communication and Strategy, Simon Imobo-Tswam, said with the exorbitant price of the forms, the party is still ready to inflict more pains on Nigerians.
“Pegging of her (APC) nomination forms at N100m, N50m, N20m etc casts the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the image of rogues and hypocrites.
“Nigerians can all see what 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, Gen. 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! I am told that’s an increase of 370 per cent.
“But in 2014, the PDP was in power and the economy was still booming. 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 nomination forms at such prohibitively high costs? And yet, only recently he preached “Equal Opportunity” to them.
“By this latest insensitive action, 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. It is most insensitive, and mind-boggling. In fact, all those buying the N100m and N50m nomination forms should be investigated for fraud.
“We, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), are different. We are a mass movement for the Nigerian people. This is why our nomination fees are soft and democratic. When you compare us with the APC, the difference is clear. This is why we must return to power to save Nigerians from this insensitive government,” he said.
