The Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP) on Monday urged political parties not to impose high nomination fees on aspirants in their respective primaries for the 2019 elections.
The CNPP Secretary in Lagos State, Mr Olumide Oguntoyinbo, gave the advice in an interview with journalist in Lagos.
He said imposition of high nomination fees for primaries would limit participation and prevent emergence of credible candidates.
Oguntoyinbo added that high nomination fees favoured money politics, at the expense of quality leadership.
“As political parties make early preparations for primaries to elect candidates for the general elections, we advise they encourage wide participation and emergence of credible candidates.
“A sure way in which they can achieve this is to make nomination fees for the different offices reasonably affordable.
“Imposing high nomination fees would only produce money bags and not necessarily good candidates for leadership positions.
“We strongly advise that the fees should be reasonable as fees as high as N5million or even N10 million would shut out competent people who cannot afford to pay,’’ he said.
Oguntoyinbo said primary elections should not be seen as avenues to generate revenue but a process to put forward potential great leaders.
He, however, praised political parties which charged zero nomination fees for women aspirants, saying the step would encourage gender parity in politics.
Oguntoyinbo also said that the country’s democracy could not be said to be growing with poor internal democracy in the political parties.
He, therefore, urged political parties to allow for the emergence of popular candidates and stop the practice of imposition.
The CNPP scribe added that voter apathy was a major challenge in elections and urged parties to partake in efforts at sensitising Nigerians to participate in the electoral process.
