Nomination forms: Cleric urges FG to intervene on high cost

The Chief Missioner of Nasrul-Lahil-l-Fath Society, Imam Onike Abdul-Azeez, has appealed to leadership of various political parties and INEC to reduce the cost of expression of interest and nomination forms   for aspirants.
Abdul-Azeez made the appeal in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on Thursday in Lagos.
An analysis of the recently released costs of expression of interest and nomination forms of the three main political parties for the House of Assembly, House of Representatives, Senate, governor and President shows that they are terribly expensive.
For the All Progressives Congress, they are respectively: N1.1million, N3.8milllion, N8.5million, N22milllion and N55million; the Peoples Democratic Party: N600, 000, N1.5million, N3.5milllion, N6milllion and N12milion.
The All Progressive Grand Alliance are: N1milllion, N2.5million, N5million, N10milllion and N25million, while women are allowed to pay half in some of the parties and the newly-registered and little known parties offer far lower fees than those quoted above.
Abdul-Azeez explained that the high cost of nomination forms would prevent youths and the poor from contesting elective positions.
The cleric said that the high cost of nomination forms would defeat the aim of the “Not Too Young to Run Bill”.
He said: “There is need to intervene in the aspect of nomination forms; the parties involved decide what their aspirants should pay as nomination forms.
“Though, some of the parties do not charge that much; I think the electoral body and leadership of the party should put a ceiling on the cost of nomination forms.
“The candidate can contribute to the party through another way; if the charges are so high, then, the aim of the bill is totally defeated.”
Abdul-Azeez, however, urged youths to take their destiny in their hands by participating actively in the process of electing their leaders.
He said that youths should not sit at home as “armchair politicians’’ but should be engaged politically.
He said: “It’s not only to sit down and criticise what the leaders are doing; they should participate by voting and be voted for.
“If you don’t participate and something happens negatively, you are going to share parts of the blame, because you have stood aloof and allowed a bad leader to emerge.
“If Nigerians know their voting rights, the leaders themselves will be on their toes throughout their tenure and they will no longer take the electorate for granted.”