Outrage as Jigawa, Kaduna fix exorbitant fees for LG election nomination forms

The Jigawa State Independent Electoral Commission (JISIEC) has fixed N5 million as fee for nomination forms for local government chairmanship elections.

The commission also announced N2 million for the same form for councillorship candidates.

The state has 27 local government areas in the 287 political wards.

JISIEC chairperson Auwalu Harbo announced the fees in the election guidelines distributed to political parties.

The elections have been fixed for 5 October.

In a similar development, the Kaduna State Electoral Commission has also fixed N11 million as the fee for nomination form for the local government chairmanship election scheduled for 19 October.

The commission also sells councillorship nomination forms for N2.2 million.

Kaduna has 23 local government areas.

Reactions

Reacting to the announcement in Jigawa, former governor Sule Lamido said the amount was fixed to discourage the opposition from participating in the elections.

Mr Lamido is the leader of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state.

In a statement on Facebook, he said the decision means that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has won the elections.

“The APC-controlled government of Jigawa State has WON all the Chairmanship seats of the 27 Local Governments and the 287 Councilorship seats in the YET to be conducted local government elections throughout the State.

“The reason being no opposition Party is able to pay the FIVE MILLION NAIRA for the Chairmanship and TWO MILLION NAIRA for the Councilorship nomination forms from the State electoral commission!

“While other States are engaged in protests over hunger and poverty, congratulations, Jigawa, for being the most prosperous State in Nigeria”, Mr Lamido wrote.

Also, Bulama Bukarti, a lawyer, said the fees mean that any party fielding candidates across the state would pay more than N700 million to purchase nomination forms.

“This policy appears to be a deliberate attempt to prevent opposition parties from participating in the local government elections scheduled for October this year.

“By imposing such exorbitant fees, many capable individuals will be priced out of running for office simply because they cannot afford the cost of the forms.

“Moreover, if someone is forced to spend such a large sum just to purchase a form, how can they effectively serve the public if they win? They might simply resort to corruption to recover their expenses.

“Running for office is a fundamental right of every Nigerian citizen, and all parties must be given a fair opportunity to field candidates. Imposing these fees will effectively bar smaller parties from participating in the electoral process.

“This issue is not limited to Jigawa alone; if this practice is allowed in Jigawa, other states may follow suit, especially now that governors are being compelled to hold elections.

“We urge the Jigawa State Electoral Commission to either distribute the forms free of charge or set a fee that is affordable for all parties, including the opposition”, Mr Bukarti said in a statement on X.