Young aspirants can’t afford party nomination forms, says group

Although the Not Too Young to Run bill has been passed into law, young Nigerians intending to run for office in 2019 general are faced with yet another challenge – the

While the presidential nomination forms for he ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) cost N45 million, the leadership of opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) pegged theirs at N12 million.

Speaking at a dialogue with political parties, a convener of the #NotTooYoungToRun group, Samson Itodo, decried the high cost of nominations forms especially for young Nigerians seeking for elective positions.

"One of the greatest challenges that young aspirants are facing is the cost of forms," Itodo said.

"Today if youths want to buy forms, you are either asked to get approvals from state governors, or approvals from government houses before forms are sold to them. As a movement we believe that this, in itself, is a huge challenge for our political process, in addition to the high cost of nomination forms, which for us as a movement, we can see as very exploitative,” he added.

Itodo accused the APC of double standard and exploitation.

"The SDP reviewed the costs of its nomination forms because of the NotTooYoungToRun. The PDP reduced the costs of its nomination forms because of NotTooYoungToRun. Other political parties are doing same.

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“As you can see from the town hall today, a lot of political parties have also made commitments and they have announced to the world, what are the costs of their nomination forms. This advocacy is gaining ground and there is a lot of progress that we are recording.

"If the APC does not yield to the call, it does so at its peril. Why do you peg high costs for forms? You are going to see a mass exodus of people who cannot afford those forms; they are quite exorbitant.

What the APC has done with its structure is to say, 'Young people, we only need you in leadership at the state Houses of Assembly.' This is because the form is N850,000. But N3.8m for the House of Representatives? No, that is exploitative in every respect," he added.

Similarly, the Buhari Youth Organisation has called on the APC to reduce the cost of nomination forms.

This is even as a group of Nigerians has purchased the N45 million presidential nomination forms for .