Vunderkind
Social Member
This article was published on Leadership newspaper. It is an opinion piece that analyzes the niggling question: How do presidential aspirants get their money back after spending as much as N27.5 million on nomination forms? Do they get the money from the party? And if so, where does the party find the money? Or does it all spill back to the masses? Are we indirectly paying for these forms?
Read below:
One of my Facebook friends took me to task on Thursday by asking me to explain how a presidential aspirant would recoup the N27.5m he paid for his nomination form. Since the legitimate income of a Nigerian president is less than N5m per year, he reminded me, the aspirant, if he won, would earn less than N20m in four years.
In defence of this aspirant whom I considered honest and incorruptible, I gave my friend an answer I considered appropriate in a democracy: After the primaries, each of 40 million members of the aspirant’s party would contribute N100 for the campaigns; N4 billion would be realised. By this answer, I overcame the temptation, but it got me thinking.
It is clear that government in Nigeria is one huge fraud – public funds sustain almost everyone. Those who claim to be party leaders still rely on public funds for building their parties. They are not touched because laws are made for the poor and the impoverished alone. Though they are the biggest criminals, the rich never go to jail.
Ostensibly, there is a law on campaign funding. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) even prescribes the ceiling for campaign spending. But the same INEC has kept quiet as the PDP and the APC extract N22m and N27.5m from each of their presidential aspirants. The EFCC has suddenly gone blind and dumb. The ICPC has looked away.
Click here to read more
Source: #Leadership
Read below:
One of my Facebook friends took me to task on Thursday by asking me to explain how a presidential aspirant would recoup the N27.5m he paid for his nomination form. Since the legitimate income of a Nigerian president is less than N5m per year, he reminded me, the aspirant, if he won, would earn less than N20m in four years.
In defence of this aspirant whom I considered honest and incorruptible, I gave my friend an answer I considered appropriate in a democracy: After the primaries, each of 40 million members of the aspirant’s party would contribute N100 for the campaigns; N4 billion would be realised. By this answer, I overcame the temptation, but it got me thinking.
It is clear that government in Nigeria is one huge fraud – public funds sustain almost everyone. Those who claim to be party leaders still rely on public funds for building their parties. They are not touched because laws are made for the poor and the impoverished alone. Though they are the biggest criminals, the rich never go to jail.
Ostensibly, there is a law on campaign funding. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) even prescribes the ceiling for campaign spending. But the same INEC has kept quiet as the PDP and the APC extract N22m and N27.5m from each of their presidential aspirants. The EFCC has suddenly gone blind and dumb. The ICPC has looked away.
Click here to read more
Source: #Leadership