We Won’t Refund N100 Million Paid For Nomination Forms Emefiele Rejected — APC
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has stated that the N100 million paid for the presidential nomination form rejected by the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, will not be refunded.
“Purchased forms are non-refundable. Period. It is customary for political parties around the world to refuse refunds once nomination papers have been paid for,” APC spokesman Felix Morka told Peoples Gazette on Sunday evening.
Mr Emefiele has been widely mocked since The Gazette reported on Friday that he had acquired the ruling party’s presidential nomination form.
In the face of widespread condemnation, the CBN governor distanced himself from the 2023 presidential election, claiming that a group of farmers purchased the form on his behalf with their own money.
“I am honored by the growing interest in me running for president in the general elections of 2023. Mr Emefiele tweeted on Saturday, “I have not come to that choice.”
Mr Emefiele is viewed as President Muhammadu Buhari’s lapdog by his detractors, and he was recently sponsored as a presidential candidate by unknown gunmen.
Governors Aminu Tambuwal of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Rotimi Akeredolu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) both denounced Mr Emefiele’s presidential ambitions, demanding for his resignation.
Early April, Mr Emefiele took delivery of his campaign vehicles ahead of the 2023 general elections. Several cars branded with the CBN governor’s pictures, adorning traditional outfits of the three major ethnic groups in Nigeria, were seen by The Gazette.
On March 26, campaign posters publicising Mr Emefiele as a presidential aspirant of APC flooded Eagle Square during the party’s national convention in Abuja.
Mr Emefiele enjoys the support of members of the Igbo ethnic group who believe his tenure as the nation’s central bank governor qualifies him to be Nigeria’s next president.
His rejection of the presidential form purchased on his behalf had raised questions among Nigerians about whether the APC would refund him.
The APC has the most expensive nomination and expression of interest forms among the 18 registered parties. PDP’s presidential nomination form costs N40 million. While APC governorship forms cost N50 million, PDP sells its governorship forms for N21 million.
