- The governor was disqualified during the screening without getting a refund.
- His new party, PDP sold its expression of interest forms for N1 million while the nomination form was sold for N20 million, a total of N21 million.
- The governor bought the PDP governorship last week Friday.
- Human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), considered the high cost of forms to be immoral and illegal, a way to discourage a set of people from participating in a democratic process.
About N22.5 million was spent in buying governorship forms of the All Progressives Congress for Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State.
The APC sold its expression of interest forms for N2.5 million while the nomination form was sold for N20 million, bringing the total cost to N22.5 million which is non-refundable.
The governor was disqualified during the screening without receiving a refund and he subsequently defected to the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
The PDP on its part sold its expression of interest forms for N1 million while the nomination form was sold for N20 million, a total of N21 million.
Obaseki bought the forms last Friday and was subsequently screened
The high cost of nomination and expression of interest forms by the two mega parties (APC and PDP) in the country has been a source of controversy in recent time
Human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), made a complaint about the high cost of forms, insisting that it was immoral and illegal.
He posited that political parties should try to generate funds by ensuring that all members paid monthly dues.
The Lawyer described the forms as “a mere piece of paper” which should not be sold.
“The late Chief Gani Fawehinmi led us to court and the court held that it was illegal and unconstitutional to collect nomination forms, after we had dragged not more than seven to eight state governments to court over money for nomination forms for LG elections.”
He added, “It is illegal and prohibitive to collect nomination forms. When you do that, you are excluding people from participating in the democratic process.
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