President Buhari
The three other presidential aspirants of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) have teamed up against President Muhammadu Buhari, demanding that he rejects the N45.5 million nomination forms purchased for him last week by a shadowy group, Nigeria Consolidation Ambassadors Network (NCAN).
The aggrieved aspirants – Dr. SKC Ogbonnia, Chief Charles Udeogaranya and Alhaji Mumakai Unagha – made the demand in a statement jointly signed by them and issued on Monday.
In the statement, a copy of which was made available to News Express, the trio also demanded that “APC should, without further delay, scrap nomination fees, in line with the laws of the land” failing which they would have no other option than to organize their own presidential primaries.
Entitled “OUR STAND: Coalition of 2019 APC Presidential Aspirants”, the statement reads:
“We demand that President Muhammadu Buhari should reject the N45 million nomination forms purchased for him by a group for the following reasons:
“(a) It fundamentally contravenes Section 91(9) of the Electoral Law;
“(b) The offer runs contrary to Buhari’s anti-corruption crusade; and,
“(c) Though some aspirants can afford the exorbitant cost of the forms, such amount is clearly not affordable to many others, including President Buhari and particularly the youths and women of our great party, APC.
“We demand that the party (APC) should, without further delay, scrap nomination fees, in line with the laws of the land.”
The aspirants warned: “Failure to adhere to the aforementioned demands will give us no other option than to conduct our own primaries in line with extant electoral laws and the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
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