A Second Republic lawmaker, Dr Junaid Mohammed, has accused President Muhammadu Buhari of lying when he said he could not afford to purchase the All Progressives Congress’s Expression of Interest and Nomination Forms to contest for the presidency in 2015.
The forms cost N27.5 million at the time and N45 million now.
Mohammed, who claimed to have known Buhari for 51 years, made this known in an interview published by Vanguard on Monday.
Also, he flayed the decision of the major political parties to set the cost of their expression of interest and nomination forms very high and out of the reach of many honest Nigerians.
He said, “Let me tell you, I have known Buhari since May 1967 when the civil war broke out, through a friend of ours. And one thing I noticed especially since he came into politics, he has always taken liberty with the truth. He has always been economical with the truth and he is very forgetful about what he says.
“If you ask him today about what he said yesterday, he can give you a very different answer and attempt to justify it in gabble language. Let me be honest with you; I believe to reduce frivolities, that people who are politically exposed, who are interested in assuming certain political positions should pay a token amount of money.
“The purpose is not for the government to recoup its money. So, the idea even the mindset that you try to recoup money for the conduct of electoral process by charging people this kind of outrageous and exorbitant fee is unrealistic, unfair and it does not in any way add credibility to the system and it does not add value to our stability. So, as far as I am concerned, it was wrong then. It is wrong now.
“Number two, if an individual either borrows money or steals money or mortgages, whatever he is trying to do in order to go and conduct an election, when he comes in and starts stealing, you should not call him to order.
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“If you are in the National Assembly at the behest of a governor who was paid N20 million to get in there just for the form in addition to hundreds of millions he’s going to pay; are you really honest and really realistic to imagine that the man just paid that as a joke? He paid money in order to make more money and that is beginning to apply to the presidency itself; to the senators themselves; among them are ex-governors. As far as possible, Nigeria has a duty to attract good people into public service because the destiny of this country may depend on that.
“I also believe that in attracting people into service, we accept people of good education and good character. I don’t think that is the case now and we should also have a sense of shame because there are certain things which are legal but which a decent man will not do, not because the law says or forbids it, no.
“Buhari doesn’t care about it. Today what is legal today to him, may be illegal tomorrow. What is illegal to him tomorrow, may after tomorrow be legal and to him, the idea of inconsistency, the idea of contradictions does not exist.”