Human rights lawyer Femi Falana has faulted the N100m presidential
nomination form fee set by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC),
describing it as “immoral” since the country’s minimum is N30,000.
Falana
made the comment on Thursday, days after the APC fixed the prices for
nomination forms for those vying for seats in the 2023 elections. The
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) also pegged its presidential form fee at
N40m.
“Those outrageous nomination fees are immoral, insensitive,
and illegal,” he said during an interview on Channels Television’s
Politics Today.
The immorality of it is that we have over 90
million Nigerians that have been classified poor. In a country where the
minimum wage is about N30,000 and it is not paid by some states, you
can’t say you are collecting N100 million or N40 million to purchase a
form,” he explained.
According to him, the move violates the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the Nigerian constitution.
Again,
section 42 of the Nigerian constitution provides that nobody shall be
subjected to any restriction or discrimination on the basis of class,
fortune, sex, or whatever,” the constitutional lawyer added.
“If
these parties are saying they want to exclude unserious people, that if
you cannot mobilise N100 million or N40 million, you cannot attain some
positions in your country. That is discriminatory and illegal.
"No
restriction can be erected to prevent you from participating in the
politics of the country. You are now saying that the politics of the
country is for moneybags or fat cats. That is against the spirit and the
letters of the constitution.”
Not For The Rich’
Falana’s comment comes on the heels of debates about the prices for nomination forms by the APC.
But the party’s spokesman Felix Morka says the criticisms about the fees are not justified.
According
to him, no economy anywhere else in the world is perfect and despite
that, “there are people who still live opulent lives ad make legitimate
money” in Nigeria.
"Our party is not for the rich,” he stated. “The party came to a decision that the value placed on these forms are justified”.
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