A presidential aspirant on the Young Progressive Party (YPP) platform, Adamu Garba II, has faulted President Muhammadu Buhari for complaining about the N40 million cost of the All Progressives Congress (APC)’s presidential form in 2019 only to approve N100 million for the same form four years later.
Garba, who recently decamped from the APC, said he quit the ruling party because of some steps it has taken that “seem to betray the tenets of democracy”.
According to the businessman-turned-politician, the political system appears to value material and natural resources above human capacity, which he said was a recipe for disaster.
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“A situation where people went for a convention and it turned out to be an enthronement. As we got ready for the primaries, it became clear that there was a game plan geared towards installing somebody as a consensus candidate. It betrays the tenets of democracy completely.
“At the same time, we young people in the party are completely alienated. The more you bring new ideas, new solutions and suggest changes, the more you are perceived as an enemy and somebody that should be thrown out of the window.
“The third case is the over-monetisation of the system of the political process. It is a threat to our future as young people. Why? This is a third world economy that generates its resources from the ground.
“Since the resources are not coming from the human brain but natural resources, human lives are going to be less of concern to policymakers than the resources on the ground.
“That’s why you would see killings in Katsina State, Zamfara State, the Niger Delta, South-East and the North-East and nobody is doing anything about them. It is because we don’t care about humans but resources. That is the direction of the policymakers.
“That’s why our young people are running away from the country and nobody cares. In fact, some ministers are even saying it is good.
“So, you would see we don’t have a future here. We have ‘monetised’ everything, from health care to education, roads and even the office that is supposed to deliver the goods.
“That’s one thing that made me conclude that the party really doesn’t represent the future,” Garba told Saturday Punch.
Garba said it was “sad” that Buhari signed off on the 150 percent increase in the price of the presidential expression of interest and nomination forms of the ruling party.
The aspirant, who shelved his presidential ambition in 2019 when the APC presidential form was N40 million, said, “My expectation was that it might remain the same because we complained at the time that the cost was too much. But the President himself lamented that the price was more than he expected.
“He urged the party to review and reconsider the cost in the future so that young people and those who don’t have enough could participate.
“I said no problem since the President also shared our concern, we should give them the benefit of the doubt.
“But in 2023, it is really shocking that the President superintended the NEC (National Executive Committee) meeting that approved the N100m for the cost of the presidential forms, more than double the previous cost in a country where the minimum wage is N30, 000 – that is if it is even being paid.
“In any ideal democratic country, you must have the right to vote and be voted for as a citizen and your rights must be recognised across the board, regardless of your economic status.
“However, in our case, almost 95 per cent of the people seemingly have no right to be voted for. They only have the right to vote. How can this be a democracy?”