The Nigerian Consolidation Ambassadors Network (NCAN), the group which obtained the intent and nomination forms for President Muhammadu Buhari re-election, has said that it will submit the forms to the President next week.
The group, also in an interview refuted the report that the Governor of Kogi State, Alhaji Yahya Bello, paid for the N45 million nomination fee. After the purchase of the nomination forms for President Buhari, it was reported that Bello paid for the forms. But speaking yesterday, the National Coordinator of group, Sunusi Musa, said the report was false. Also, he faulted a report from a national daily that the group violated the provision of the Electoral Act on the purchase of the forms. According to him, there is no violation of the electoral law in the purchase of the nomination forms for the President.
He explained that the group could not hand over the documents to the president immediately after the purchase, as the president was then outside the country. “The president is just back, so we have not yet presented the form to him. We are in the process of sending them. We will send them to him,” he said. Denying that they were being sponsored by Kogi State governor, the group said: “Let me say that as a person, I have never met Governor Yahaya Bello.
I do not know him personally and vice versa. Of course, it is possible for him to have known some members of our group in his state but NCAN as an association formed since August 2017 has never made any effort to meet with Governor Yahaya Bello or any other governor to solicit for financial support. “Probably, some people think that by the apparent closeness of Gov. Bello to President Buhari, the governor might have procured the form. Again, because some of the founding and prominent members of this group are from Kogi State, that might have informed such insinuation but I want to say that as at now, not a single government official has contributed a kobo to our purse. Certainly, no,” he explained. It was reported that many pro-Buhari groups had lobbied to be the ones to purchase the forms for the president.
