Oshiomhole sued by Delta State governorship candidate over exorbitant cost of nomination fees

ALL Progressives Congress (APC) chairman Adams Oshiomhole has been dragged to court by Chief Sunny Ofehe one of the party's gubernatorial candidates in Delta State over the exorbitant cost of its governorship nomination forms.

Chief Ofehe, an environmental rights activist, is seeking the APC ticket in the Delta State governorship elections but like all other candidates, has to purchase his nomination form at a staggering cost of N22.5m ($62,000). Yesterday, he filed a suit before the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Maitama, Abuja, asking for an order perpetually restraining the party from continuing with the sale of nomination and expression of interest forms at these exorbitant costs.

In the suit, Chief Ofehe sought an order of the court directing the party to revert to the old regime of fees. Chief Ofehe, who stated that he had built political structures across Delta State in his bid to actualise his governorship aspiration in the 2019 elections, described the sum of N22.5m imposed by the APC on governorship aspirants as unreasonable, huge, excessive and prohibitive.

He argued that the increase of the fees of the expression of interest and nomination forms from the original N500,000 and N5m to N2.5m and N20m, respectively was oppressive. Chief Ofehe also sought another interim injunction stopping aspirants for the scheduled APC party primaries in Delta State from returning or further returning the collected nomination and expression of interest forms.

Furthermore, Chief Ofehe also asked the court to restrain the defendants from further receiving the already collected forms from governorship aspirants in Delta State. He urged the court to grant the interim orders of injunction pending the hearing of his motion on notice in which he also prayed for the same pronouncements that would last pending the hearing of the substantive suit.

Chief Ofehe, who said he had printed posters, consulted widely, recruited ad hoc and permanent staff, engaged agents, provided administrative and campaign offices across the state, added that he would be foreclosed from participating in the process if the case was not assigned and heard urgently. He argued that by virtue of the provision of Article 13 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights, the imposition of the allegedly exorbitant fees had precluded or foreclosed him from freely participating in the government of his country and Delta State.