We have been sidelined, disenfranchised – APC youth lament high cost of nomination forms

A member of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Adamu Garba has lamented his inability to purchase the party’s presidential nomination forms ahead of the 2019 election.

Garba lamented that most of the youths aspiring for political offices have been disenfranchised due to the high amount of nomination forms.

In a series of tweets, he wrote: “Fellow Nigerians, I consider taking such a step to set a bad precedent for the future of young people contesting positions in political parties, specifically the APC.

‘’ Many of which currently are disenfranchised, not for lack of competence, character or capability, but on the monetary ground.

‘’We deem it fit to go in solidarity with other young people, who due to over monetization of the political space in Nigeria, we’re finding it hard to participate. We take this as a direct plan to side-line majority of Nigerians, particularly the youth in the coming 2019 election.

‘’In a country where 92% of the population is living below N60,000.00 a month & 87 million people in extreme poverty, 6 people get to extreme poverty level per minute, we consider such amount to be insensitive to the feelings of most Nigerians, currently going through hard times.

‘’My conscience does not reconcile with the fact that we put such amount in a country that needs consideration for the poor, encouragement for the youth to participate in politics and, a progressive party that will bring about inclusive governance based on capacity, not money.

‘’We understand that the party needs to generate fund to carry on with its obligations, but parties generate fund from other sources, like memberships, etc not from the candidate. Such practice will eventually encourage public servant to be corrupt prone, once in office.

‘’We’re still conducting a nationwide consultation from all stakeholders. We’ll let our supporters know our next line of action in due cause. However, know that the journey to make Nigeria great is an unceasing one. We will continue as soon as we are through with consultations.

‘’Thank you so very much for your continued support as we keep marching Forward for Progress.”

Garba, however, said that even the president could not purchase the form. A group of people whose sources of income wasn’t scrutinized bought the form for him or is it all a charade as exposed by Senator Shehu Sanni.

‘’This government signed Not Too Young to Run bill but what we were not told is that “The Youth will be too Poor to afford just the nomination form.”

‘’The ruling party should as a matter of urgency review downward the cost of its nomination forms,” he added.