By Richard Elesho
Preparations for the 2023 general elections have taken over the psyche of the nation. On the surface, it is the new unifier of men. In today’s Nigeria, irrespective of class, gender, tongue and other divisive tendencies, wherever two or three are gathered, politics is likely to dominate discussions. The polls have pushed other issues like depressed economy and the sandwich of gunmen that threaten life and property to the back seat.
The two dominant parties sent tongues wagging when they released the inordinate cost of their nomination and expression of interest forms, which have since commercialised the political space. Not a few persons cried blue murder, expressing fears that the fees were out of reach of ordinary citizens.
The main opposition People’s Democratic Party, PDP set the ball rolling. The party charged it’s Presidential aspirants N40 million each, against N12m in 2019. Governorship aspirants were charged N21million, while Senate, House of Representatives and House of Assembly aspirants coughed out N3.5million, N2.5million and N1.5million in that order.
The All Progressives Congress, APC, eager to assert it’s frontline position as the ruling party, pegged it’s fees at N100 million per aspirant, for the number one office. (The party charged N45m and N27m for the same position in 2019 and 2015, respectively.) Governorship applicants, Senate, House of Representatives and state Assembly hopefuls were to pay N50million, N20million, N10million and N2million respectively.
It is instructive that the stated fees are not the only amounts payable by aspirants. They are liable to myriad charges for administrative and state secretariat use, before the completed forms are accepted for processing. Even then, the fees represent a tiny percentage of the cost of standing for elections, in Nigeria. Any election for that matter.
For a country hardly able to pay N30,000 minimum wage, and where universities have been shut down by workers over demand for better welfare, the nomination fees were regarded as outrageous. But, Abdullahi Adamu, APC National Chairman explained that electoral contests are not for the poor. He argued that “if you don’t have N100 million, you have no business with becoming president”.
Outrageous or not, politicians quickly struged off the moral trauma and fell upon one another to make payments. Like heartless and shrew business conglomerates, the parties have been smiling to the banks.
People rushed the forms as if life depended on them. Multiple sale outlets were created for them across the country. In fact, following the rate at which aspirants bought the documents, the parties had to grant multiple extension of expiry dates for their sale and submission. It took a strong warning from the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, insisting on not changing the schedule of activities for the elections, to beat the parties back to line.
From the sale of Presidential papers alone, the PDP raked in N680million from it’s 17 aspirants, two of which were disqualified by its Screening Committee, headed by former Senate President David Mark. Needless to say that those disqualified had to forfeit the fees, as they were nonrefundable.
The Lion fiscal gain was recorded by the APC. Its forms was an instant hit. It was gathered from statements attributed to the
National Organising Secretary of the party, Alhaji Sulaiman Arugugu, that as at Thursday 5 May, the party had harvested about N20 billion in just ten days of sales.
According to reports, 241 aspirants picked Senatorial forms at N4.8b Some 821 aspirants Picked House of Representatives at N8.2b. Similarly the party was said to have made N3.01b from 1,505 House of Assembly forms and N2.4b from the sale of 48 Governorship forms, while 15 aspirants paid 1.5b for Presidential forms. These figures may significantly jump up as the forms remain open for another five days, precisely Wednesday, 12th May.
Proponents of high nomination fees recommend it as a way of insulating the electoral track against unserious aspirants and means of boosting the financial base of the parties. They posit that since government has stopped funding the parties, an alternative is to shift the burden on people who aspire to elective offices.
Tempting as the arguments may sound, critics counter that high nomination fees is a deservice to Democratic ethos and the right of ordinary folks to participate in leadership recruitment process. Samson Itodo, an election advocacy activist said the the development is unfair to the less privileged.
“Fair competition is the hallmark of candidate recruitment in political parties. Imposing high costs on nomination forms limits accessibility to political entrepreneurs with deep pockets and wide patronage networks, thereby shrinking the political space. When money shapes politics, it assaults the democratic right of citizens to contest for public office, especially where it determines who qualifies to participate in politics.”
Dr Moses Obajemu a commentator on public affairs described proceeds from the sale of forms as “Ill gotten wealth” of the parties. He noted that the development have shown the parties as belonging to the highest bidder and called for electoral reforms that will peg nomination fees at an “affordable and reasonable monetary region.”
For now, the parties are adjusting to the size of their new wealth.