The New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), has urged the Borno Independent Electoral Commission(BOSIEC) to reduce the cost of nomination forms for the Jan. 20 local government councils poll.
Mr Mohammed Mustafa, the state Chairman of the party stated this when he spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria in Maiduguri on Wednesday.
Mustafa said that the high cost of the forms had affected his party’s fielding of candidates for the election.
He said that the N500,000 fee for nomination forms for chairmanship candidates and N250,000 fee for nomination forms for councillorship candidates was exorbitant.
Mustafa said the development had compelled the party to field chairmanship candidates in only 10 out of the 27 local government areas of the state.
“We also have only 40 candidates instead of 312 candidates for councillorship positions,” Mustafa said.
He said that the party had in consonance with other political parties under the Inter Party Advisory Council (IPAC) reached out to the commission urging it to review the fee in vain.
“BOSIEC has refused to be considerate like its counterparts in other states.
“For instance, in Jigawa and Niger, the electoral commission only charged N100,000 for nomination forms for chairmanship position and N50,000 for councillorship position which is reasonably.
“A reasonable fee would have encouraged more participation,” Mustafa said.
He said that NNPP on its part, charged N30,000 for nominatioh forms for chairmanship and N20,000 for councillorship position.
Mustafa also confirmed receipt of letters suspending the state 2023 governorship candidate, Alhaji Umar Alkali, from the party by his ward and local government for alleged anti-party activities.
He said that the letters had been forwarded to the headquarters of the party for final decision on the matter.
