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Contents
By Prince Tony Akeni
ATTENTION:
▪️His Excellency Sen. Seriake Dickson, National Leader NDC_
▪️His Excellency Peter Obi, His Excellency Engr. Rabiu Kwankwaso, Presidential Ticket Aspirants NDC
▪️Distinguished Patriot Prof. Pat Utomi, Global Leader The Big Tent
▪️National Executive Councils, NDC, Labour Party and all stakeholders to whom it may concern.
The 2027 General Elections, especially the Presidential Ballot, shall be akin to a penalty own goal for both the ruling APC and the consolidated opposition, now led by the NDC. One fatal misstep by APC in the last mile of the race will make the ruling party lose the presidential race to the opposition. In the same vein, one last-mile error in the opposition’s roadmap shall cost it the presidential victory, paving way for the second term return of APC to summit power.
This is an urgent call for the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) and the Labour Party of Nigeria (LP) to, amongst other matters arising, waive now or drastically reduce to near zero “Party Development” Fees, Expression of Interest Forms for financially disadvantaged aspirants, extend deadlines for obtaining/submission of forms, and subsequently to stagger aspirants screening across new dates.
This is why.
- The NDC’s triple-step aspirant fees involving Expression of Interest Form, #3million;
Nomination Form #5million; and what the NDC christens “Development Levy,” #20million, totalling #28million for senatorial ticket, are prohibitive and unaffordable to many genuine aspirants and good governance enthusiasts who recently joined the party. To make matters worse, even though the fees are lower for House of Rep and State House of Assembly aspirants, these fees are to be paid within a short blood pumping notice of 14 days. The shortness of the notice to raise these amounts by aspirants affects the majority of them who thronged into the party from when Mr. Peter Obi joined the NDC on Sunday May 2, 2026 up to the high pressure closing date which officially ended at 6pm today Sunday May 17. Labour Party’s ended two days ago on Saturday May 15, 2016. - The above condition has constrained numerous potent, ballot winning popular aspirants who could not afford the fees to pull out in frustration. The wailing despair of these aspirants is audible and pandemic across the country and at both the NDC and LP national quarters in Abuja which were visited by monitors.
- Owing to the above reason, as aspirants pulled the breaks and some entirely cancelled out their vying interest, the NDC and Labour Party may not have active, viable and effectual candidates in many constituencies across the country unless they timely put in place measures to revisit the exercise and remedy the voids.
- Flowing from Labour Party’s experience in the 2023 elections, the far-reaching consequence of these overlooked aspirants vacuum is that the now frontline NDC opposition may win massive votes in many constituencies of the country but the absence of substantive candidates to lead ballot day trenches and to ensure that the party’s votes are counted will leave room for sweeping rigging, ballot poaching, projection and announcement of false results by the ruling APC and its conniving institutions.
- Furthermore, aggrieved opposition aspirants who were prevented from participating in the election because of their inability to meet the NDC’s “unaffordable” Expression of Interest/Nomination Forms and “Development Levy” will be unenthusiastic to defend the votes of their constituencies for the NDC or NDC-LP coalition, if such alliance or similar fraternal ballot coalition came to play.
- The frustration of being disallowed from being candidates will also make some previously pro-opposition actors become willing tools and easy converts to sellout the opposition’s ballot harvests in their constituencies to the ruling party.
- Also from the experience of Labour Party in the 2023 elections, you will recall that the initial low affordability of LP aspirant forms and outright waivers in some cases enabled okada riders and candidates of similar low economic class to win elections on the party’s platform. NDC, LP or any visionary opposition coalition will do itself a whale of good to replicate this template. This is because where a political party has active candidates, in the process of working hard to sell their candidacy to the electorates, they stamp the presence, strength and ballot teeth of their party in their constituency by installing effective party agents for victory. This will help the NDC and LP to have polling unit troops and vote protection loyalists in every constituency across Nigeria to checkmate rigging or announcement of false results, vices the ruling party is unprecedentedly noted for.
- Subsequent to the above, the NDC and LP should, as additional stratagem, make room for place-holding aspirants to fill every elective slot throughout the country, ensuring that such place-holders would seamlessly withdraw for substantive candidates before the expiration of INEC’s candidates submission deadline.
- Finally, to accommodate the initiatives propounded above, one will strongly urge that both the NDC, LP or any other partnership in the new post-ADC coalition should, as a matter of necessity, extend the deadline for collection and submission of forms, and their screening dates staggered accordingly as long as such extensions fall within INEC’s political party activities timetable.
Conclusion
The 2027 General Elections, especially the Presidential Ballot, shall be akin to a penalty own goal for both the ruling APC and the consolidated opposition now led by the NDC. One fatal misstep by APC in the last mile of the race will make the ruling party lose the presidential race to the opposition. In the same vein, one last mile error in opposition’s roadmap shall cost it the presidential victory, paving way for the second term return of APC to summit power. The high aspirant fees and levies currently governing the NDC and LP workbooks, the parties’ respective deadlines for submission of forms and NDC’s subsequent choke-notice screening are one misstep a wit too early, and should be revisited.
In the letter and spirit of the common commitment to save democracy in our fatherland,
I am
Comrade Prince Tony Akeni Le Moin is the National Convener, Nigeria Cannot Continue Like This (NCC-LIT), and Save Democracy Mega Alliance (SDMA).
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