Whether the 2023 general election will hold or not, the ‘too much money’ spent on nomination forms and growing long list of aspirants remain largely worrisome. In a country that wears the unenviable crown of the poverty capital of the world, it is tragic that politicians buy presidential nomination form at a whopping price of N100 million. It is sad that some men of God, who should champion the elevation of morality in our political conduct, are part of this charade. Where are the sources of the millions of naira flying around in the name of purchasing party forms for aspirants? Some groups are outdoing themselves by purchasing forms for aspirants.
Why some are groups buying forms for aspirants or are they stage-managed? Why are we monetizing our politics, democracy and thereby excluding many others from participation? Are our politicians aware that monetization of our politics will surely kill this nascent democracy? Although every democracy has its local colours, charging outrageously for nomination forms, is not in line with global practices. Even from the United States where we copied the presidential system of government, I don’t think they charge millions of dollars for nomination forms. Does a high nomination form fee mean that our democracy is among the best in the world? Does it mean that our hospitals are functioning adequately? Does it mean that our Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is growing as expected? These are questions begging for urgent answers from our politicians who didn’t see anything wrong with purchasing a party for N100 million when millions of Nigerian youths are unemployed when an NYSC member is paid only N30,000 a month for serving his fatherland. My honest thinking is that each political party should not use the sale of nomination forms as a way of raising money for the party. The parties can raise funds through active membership drive and not through hawking of nomination forms. The current hawking of nomination forms is a mockery of our democracy. It is bastardization of our democracy. It is masculinizing our politics the more. Our democracy must not be turned into a bazaar sales party where the highest bidder collects choice items.
But assuming that it is their legitimate means of raising money for the party, the amount charged must not be outrageous or cumbersome. Charging N100 million naira for nomination form where the national minimum wage is N30,000 is immoral and a grand deception that things are working well in Buhari’s Nigeria. The amount so far raised in the ongoing political bazaar in Abuja can go a long way to keep our public universities open instead of being under lock and key on account of the lingering ASUU strike.
I had earlier argued in one of my articles in favour of many aspirants coming out so that voters can freely choose from the long list of aspirants, but it appears the arena is becoming overcrowded with many aspirants, including those who should have no business being in the race. The mad rush to obtain nomination forms despite the exorbitant fees charged is still puzzling and nobody has come out with cogent reasons why people, including current political office holders, are scrambling for presidential party forms when the vacant position is just for one person. It is good that President Muhammadu Buhari has asked political appointees interested in vying for elections to resign. I commend those that have resigned and urge others to emulate their good example. The unwieldy number of aspirants in the race may likely pose a problem for the political parties in arriving at the party’s flag bearer in both the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), no matter the mode of primaries deployed in each case. Even pegging the nomination fee at N50miilion or N40 million by some political parties is still outrageous and not in tandem with morality and the reality of living in Nigeria today where over 100 million Nigerians live at about $1 US dollar per day. The central government’s promise of lifting about 10 million Nigerians out of poverty annually has remained a promise.
In this poverty-stricken country, where the citizens, who used to rank among the happiest people in the world, not because of good governance but by sheer hard work and ingenuity, the citizens are now among the unhappiest people in the world on account of misery and growing disillusionment. With too much money spent on purchase of party forms in the midst of poverty, suffering and misery, the political elites are indirectly corrupting the political space and making it look like with money, political power can be bought and dispensed.
They are indirectly telling us that those without stupendous wealth cannot be part of the political process. With highly monetized political environment, we are sending wrong signals to our youths that politics is about money, money and money and not service which it ought to be. Monetizing the political space will make our politics toxic and out of the reach of the common man. It will kill the remaining joy in our politics and will eventually turn elections into a do or die contest where money will speak and speak so eloquently through vote buying.
I don’t think it is late for the political parties to stop the current bazaar of selling of party forms to the millionaires and drastically reduce it where it can be affordable for an average Nigerian. In the midst of rising insecurity and wanton killing of people, I think that the best thing the political class should do is to come out with pragmatic measures to stem the tide of insecurity and killings across the country and not to supervise the sale of party forms for millions of naira. Nigerian politicians must not be insensitive to the plight of millions of Nigerians who go to sleep on empty stomach due to no fault of theirs.
While so many Nigerians are not too sure that the 2023 elections will hold on account of insecurity, some notable Nigerians have made calls for tenure extension by a period of six months to enable the present administration put the country in good shape before elections can hold. Chief Afe Babalola (SAN) and Chief Robert Clarke (SAN) have argued so persuasively on the need to have an interim administration or extension of this administration beyond May 29, 2023.
Whether the calls are altruistic or otherwise, many Nigerians are opposed to such calls, which they see as undemocratic and unnecessary at this point in time. This is one road we had travelled before and it was not smooth at all. This democratic march which started on May 29, 1999 must not be truncated in any guise. Doing so will mark the end of this democratic experiment. Nigerians fought hard to get our current democratic dispensation; we should not do anything now to torpedo it.
Before many groups will start campaigning for tenure extension, the politicians should work in concert to stop any move to truncate this democracy. Just like the presidency has said, the May 29, 2023 handover date to another administration remains sacrosanct. The Buhari administration must ensure that the 2023 elections hold and that the handover date of May 29, 2023 is kept. Any deviation from this will not augur well for the country.