N40 Million Presidential Nomination Form: Aspirant sues PDP, INEC

As the number of Presidential aspirants continues to burgeon ahead of the 2023 elections, a contender for the top office and legal practitioner, Okey Uzoho has asked the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory Abuja to hold that it was a violation of provisions of Section 84 (3) of the Electoral Act 2022 for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)to demand the sum of N5,000,000 (Five Million Naira) for Expression of Interest Form and another sum of N 35,000,000 (Thirty-Five Million Naira) for Presidential Nomination Form.

Uzoho in an Originating Summons against the PDP and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) averred that charges attached to the Expression of Interest and Presidential Nomination Forms are not only “arbitrary, unconscionable, excessive callous, insensitive” but a flagrant violation of his fundamental right enshrined in the Nigerian Constitution and in the African Charter on Human Peoples Right, in a country where the Minimum Wage is a mere N 30,000 (Thirty Thousand Naira).

He is also asking for an order of perpetual injunction restraining the PDP and INEC  from, howsoever, excluding him from participating as an aspirant in the Presidential Primary Election as a prelude to his participation in the 2023 Presidential Elections, on account of alleged non-payment of the sum of  N40,000,000 (Forty Million Naira) to the party.

Some of the reliefs sought are:

• A Declaration that the plaintiff having met the constitutional requirement/ qualifications for election to the office of President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as set down in Section 131 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended), it is illegal, unlawful and unconstitutional for the 1^st defendant to interpose or impose additional monetary/ pecuniary qualification as an impediment to the exercise of the plaintiff’s constitutional and fundamental right to contest election to the office of  President of Nigeria in the 2023 Presidential elections.

• A  Declaration that the attempt by the 1^st defendant to stifle the plaintiff’s lawful and legitimate aspiration to seek to alter the prevalent negative political and economic narratives of Nigeria by erecting monetary and pecuniary impediments on his path in the guise of demanding from him, payment of N 40,000,000,00 as a condition precedent to his participation in the 1^st defendant’s primary election for the 2023 Nigeria’s Presidential Elections is illegal, punitive, discriminatory and undemocratic.

• A  Declaration that the 2^nd defendant has the power an indeed duty under the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and the Electoral Act 2022 to ensure compliance by the 1^st defendant with Section 131 of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution ( as amended ) and section 84 (1), (2) and (3) of the Electoral Act 2022.

• An Order of Mandatory Injunction compelling the 1^st defendant to provide the plaintiff with all the necessary facilities to ensure his participation in the Peoples Democratic Party Presidential Primary Election for the office of President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 2023.

• The sum ofN50,000,000 as compensation for the anxiety, inconvenience, loss of valuable campaign time that the illegal monetary demand by the 1^st defendant has occasioned.