There have been allegations of high-handedness against the screening committee of Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) for the 2027 general elections, with governorship aspirants accusing the party of setting a N5 billion benchmark for aspirants.
Sources in the party, yesterday, told our correspondent that the Senator Sam Egwu-led Screening Committee has insisted on a minimum sum of five billion naira in the account statement of those running for state governorship positions under the NDC, reports Daily Independent.
According to them, “governorship aspirants are expressing anger,” noting that “such a humongous benchmark was not contemplated in the Electoral Amendment Acts or the Constitution of the Nigeria Democratic Congress.”
The Committee which began screening after their inauguration on Monday, screened its sole presidential aspirant, Mr Peter Obi on Tuesday.
The sources insisted that the decision was “unhealthy for a newly registered political party and an opposition struggling to register its presence in the democratic record for the first time.”
“The NDC is an opposition political party and shouldn’t behave like a ruling party, where the government in power dictates whatever they like.
“The party should show a good example of how internal democracy works. It should be attractive to people with a passion for good governance instead of a party where money determines who gets what,” they said.
They argued that while aspirants had trooped into the NDC, anyone contesting governorship must have the financial muscle to run the electioneering campaign.
This is as they warned against a N5 billion account statement requirement, pointing out that such was not in the interest of a newly formed political party struggling to unseat the ruling party.
“You see, we are in NDC because of injustice, we are in NDC because of the arrogance of the All Progressives Congress. APC and the NDC should be home to all of us and liberal in handling us. NDC should not make the contest to favour only the highest bidder.
“Even the APC that is the ruling party never contemplated such a huge benchmark as part of the requirement to contest governorship.
“The screening is scheduled for Thursday and we are preparing and trying to beat INEC time. I don’t think this will be acceptable and the screening committee should try to de-emphasize financial clout and rather elevate acceptability and electability so that we can move ahead. It is common knowledge that anyone who is running for a political position such as governorship should make provision for funding.
Political parties have since submitted members’ registers to INEC, with the window for defection and cross carpeting closed, so the NDC should reconsider the decision before we face the Committee tomorrow,” the sources told our correspondent.
