An All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential aspirant and leader of the middlebelt presidency agitations, Moses Ayom, has called for review and reduction of the N100 million fee for the nomination forms of the ruling party.
He also called for prayers to guide the Adamu-led National Working Committee to exhibit equity, fairness, and justice as their guiding principle, and not do anything that would affect the already battered zone.
Ayom, who had recently condemned the price for the purchase of the N21 million APC chairmanship nomination form had also raised an alarm about the plot to disenfranchise the middle belt region by raising the presidential nomination form to an unaffordable level.
He said: “First, the new and re-branded Adamu-led National Working Committee of the APC must be seen to be in strict compliance with global finance and economy bearing in mind that the world is still crumbling and has not fully recovered from the Covid-19 damage. Indeed places like Shaghai are atill battling with another lock down.”
“The ongoing fierce Ukraine/Russia war which is fast having a toll on the world economy even more than the COVID are enough reasons for the Adamu-led NWC to take a pause on and reduce the nomination fee drastically.”
Ayom said he will commence serious fasting and prayers to plead with God to change the minds of the APC to reduce the fee for the nomination form.
He urged the Adamu-led NWC of the APC to reject the temptation of embracing “commercial democracy” as introduced and practised by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
According to Ayom, Nigerians were outraged and have condemned the N40 million charged by the PDP for presidential nomination form.
It will amount to double jeopardy for the ruling APC to support the same policy by even increasing the fee to N100 million.
He said the the people of the Middlebelt who have been marginalised, oppressed, with their source of economic survival, agriculture destroyed, could not mobilise such money.
He reminded the APC chairman of of his promise to run the party with a human face citing his known reputation for equity, Justice and fairness.
Ayom urged the Adamu-led NWC to use the powers just confered on it by the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) to reduce the prices of the nomination form for the presidency and other positions.
He said the confidence reposed in Adamu was what made the President and NEC to transfer their powers to the APC NWC for the crucial period of 90 days.
Ayom noted that the directive of President Muhammadu Buhari that the APC ticket should not be handed over to the highest bidder should be strictly complied with.
“Adamu as a bridge builder, must be seen to be building bridges and not cutting them by way of indirectly barring some of us by hiking the price of the presidential forms and others.
“With the fixing of N100 million fee for the presidential nomination form, it is obvious that only the money bags would aspire while other potential good leaders have been blocked.” he said.
