Betta Edu, the All Progressives Congress (APC) national women leader, has argued that any youth who doesn’t have access to N50 million should not be aspiring to be president.
Recall that the APC had on Wednesday, announced N100 million as the price for its presidential forms, but gave 50 percent discount to aspirants under 50 years.
The cost had spurred reactions with many accusing the ruling party of trying to deny young people the opportunity to seek political power.
But defending the price of the forms in an interview with Arise TV on Thursday, Edu argued that “there are many ways that young people can generate funding for elections.
“If you want to be able to cater for Nigerians, you should have gone above the point where you have to look for N50 million.”
The Cross River State APC chieftain then asked how anyone who cannot access such an amount “be able to manage so much funds if you’re given that opportunity”.
“When you make up your mind that you want to run, you should be able to prepare adequately for that race. Beyond that, there are many ways that young people can generate funding for elections. It mustn’t be your money. There are many ways young people can generate funds to run for whatever elections they have. Remember, they are not paying 100 percent of whatever others are paying.”
She continued, “If you’re a young person who truly people believe in you and you truly have the masses, there’s fundraising.
“If you want to run for the president of Nigeria. You need to go through the 36 states; remember that the law states you must have at least 25 percent across the board for you to be able to emerge. So it’s beyond picking up form and sitting down in one place and probably winning only one polling unit, and you say you want to run. That’s not what we should offer as a ruling party; we need to put some seriousness and scale into the game.
“And if you want to be able to cater for Nigerians, you should have gone above the point where you have to look for N50 million. If you don’t even have access to N50 million and you want to run for the presidency, then there is a problem already. How are we sure that you’ll be able to manage so much funds if you’re given that opportunity.”