A chieftain of All Progressives Congress (APC) based in the United States of America, Prof Emmanuel Dada, has condemned the high cost of nomination forms sold by his party to aspirants, describing the situation as appalling, which, according to him, will encourage corruption when such aspirants get to the office.
Prof Dada, a chemical engineer at the Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA, USA, whose initial plan was to run for the Ekiti Central Senatorial seat on the party platform, said, he had to withdraw from the race based on the cost of the nomination form, which he further described as astronomical high.
The party chieftain, who addressed newsmen on Wednesday in Maryland, Lagos, expressed disappointment, saying with the situation on the ground, Nigeria’s democracy was witnessing what he described as “money baggie” kind of democracy “where the nomination process has been sold to the highest bidders out of reach of ordinary Nigerians.”
“Today, Wednesday, May 11,2022 marks another sad day in the history of our country, Nigeria wherein we are witnessing the current unacceptable “money baggie” of Nigeria democracy where the nomination process has been sold to the highest bidders out of reach of ordinary Nigerians,” he said.
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Dada, who is the sitting Chairman, APC- USA chapter, Houston, maintained that when people buy forms at a high cost, there is the tendency them stealing money to recoup what they had spent, even as he argued that their entitlement for four years when they found themselves in the office is not up to the cost of the nomination form.
“Take for instance N100 million for nomination form for president, almost more than twice the basic salary for four- year term of the president!! If this is not in your face signal that go out there and steal government money to recoup the political expenses and help yourself beyond that, then I do not know what else to call it,” he said.
“There is no justification for these astronomical price tags and neither can it be rationalized,” he declared.
The University don, who is also a pastor, while announcing his withdrawal from the race, said his aspiration to seek Senate seat was inspired to deliver a salvation message to Nigerians that it was time to “bell the cat,” by restructuring the country, as, according to him, “we have been doing the same over and over and expecting a different result.”
He, however, said he would be consulting his people as to his next political move, adding that “the message may need a different vehicle, a different political party that is more inclined towards a better and more prosperous Nigeria.”
“Nigeria must restructure to a more true federation system, where we should go back to the 1963 Republican Constitution with the then three regions having their separate Constitution, separate police system, and separate economy and each grew in their own respective spaces and Nigeria was prosperous then.
“There is the need to restructure the country. The high amount fixed for nomination form is a fraud, I can’t risk paying N20 million for Senatorial form and one would be told later that the party has a candidate in mind for the race,” he said.
Commenting on the lingering Academic Staff Union of University (ASUU) strike, Prof. Dada lamented poor funding of the country’s universities, saying this was so because the leaders cared less about the plight of lecturers as their children school abroad.
He said only proper funding of universities would put an end to the incessant strike embarked upon by tertiary institution lecturers.
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