APC aspirants rush for forms as sale closes Tuesday

Aspirants, particularly those contesting for the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential ticket are seen in a rush to obtain the expression of interest and nomination forms.

This is apparently to beat unforeseen circumstances ahead of the closure of sales and issuance of the forms on Tuesday, May 10, 2022.

The National Working Committee (NWC) of the APC had extended the party’s sale of expression of interest and nomination forms from Friday, May 6 to Tuesday, May 10, 2022.

APC started selling the forms on Tuesday, April 26. However, there seems now to be a rush by presidential and other aspirants to obtain the forms.

Aspirants that collected the N100 million presidential forms before the close of work on Friday, May 6, include Godwin Emefiele, the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN); Ibikunle Amosun, former Ogun State governor; Sani Ahmed Yerima, former Zamfara State governor; Ajayi Boroffice, senator representing Ondo-North senatorial; Ogbonnaya Onu, minister of science, technology and innovation and Dimeji Bankole, former speaker of the House of Representatives.

Emiefele had without funfair picked up the forms by proxy at the Abuja International Conference Centre (AIC). Other aspirants also collected the forms through their representatives.

Sources at the Taraba Hall of the AIC where the presidential and governorship forms are being sold confirmed that Sulaiman Argungu, APC national organising secretary, presented the documents to Emefiele’s representative.

Meanwhile, concerned stakeholders under the umbrella of APC Rebirth Group has called on the party national chairman, Abdullahi Adamu to review some of the forms accompanying the nomination and expression of interest forms being purchased by aspirants ahead of the 2023 elections.

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The group, which noted specifically its concerns regarding the Form 18 tagged, ‘Withdrawal Letter,’ said such a document curtails the freedom of aspirants to pursue their aspirations without any form of coercion.

Aliyu Audu, APC Rebirth spokesperson in a statement said the Form 18 which seeks for aspirants’ voluntary withdrawal from the primaries in which they will be taking part amounts to tacit coercion and violation of the freedom of aspirants to freely decide on their own.

“At what point, for instance, would the party activate the signed form of withdrawal by aspirants? Anticipated withdrawal from an election that has not yet been conducted, such as the one being solicited via form 18, would not give aspirants the needed confidence in the process, and the party would do well not to give the impression that it is working to suppress the rights of members to a fair and transparent contest.

“While the party, through its secretary, Iyiola Omisore, did say the signing of form 18 was optional, the fact that such caveat was not indicated on the form makes such claim highly suspect. Moreover, once an aspirant appends his signature to the declaration page of the form, he has inadvertently validates all the information or commitments on any part of the form. We are, therefore, calling on the party to clarify its position on this contentious issue of form 18 in particular in order to reassure aspirants of the party.

“The APC Rebirth Group would also like to call on the party to take a definitive position as regards section 84 (12) of the amended Electoral Act which requires appointees of government seeking elective positions to resign before taking part in the primaries. This is necessary in order for the APC not to create an impression of wanting to reap off aspirants before taking a decision. It’s also necessary that we do this on time so that the party does not fall into the avoidable situation of contravening an important provision of the Electoral Act.

“Already, the speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiala has pointed out the likely consequence of fielding candidates who refuse to comply with these requirements of our electoral law. It is, therefore, our hope that the party will listen to voices of reasons and state its position on this important subject clearly and without any form of equivocation.

“Finally, we would like to appeal that the party leadership should be deliberate, transparent, firm and just in order to ensure free, fair, credible and rancour-free primaries to prevent or reduce possible litigations afterward,” the statement read.