2019: We Didn’t Violate Any Law in Buying Ticket for Buhari, Says NCAN

By Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja

An All Progressives Congress (APC) lobby group, the Nigeria Consolidation Ambassador Network (NCAN) has said that they would soon make a formal presentation of the nomination form for the presidential ticket of the party to President Muhammadu Buhari, adding that they violated no law in buying the forms.

The group that caught the attention of the Nigerian political scene on the account its daring move to purchase APC’s nomination form on behalf of the president yesterday  defended its action saying that the Electoral Act did not bar individuals to collectively tax themselves and contribute funds to help buy nomination form for an aspirant.

Addressing journalists in Abuja, the National Coordinator of NCAN, Sanusi Musa, said that the group took time to study the legal provisions and there was nowhere the Electoral Act mentioned donations to aspirants.

Instead, Musa said that the extant laws referred to contributions in support of a party’s candidate in an election which under the circumstance, was not the case with what the group did.

Speaking on the allegations that the group may have been sponsored by governor, Yahaya Bello, of Kogi state, Musa denied any such thing.

He said that the group had taken time to mobilise its members across the country and was able to raise amounts in excess of  the cost of the presidential nomination form.

“Well, let me say that I, as a person never met Governor Yahaya Bello. I don’t know him, he doesn’t know me as a person. Of course for  members of our group in the State, he might have known some of them but as an association since it was formed in August 2017, I have never made any efforts to meet Governor Yahaya Bello or any other governor to solicit financial support,” he said.

Although the group did not say when, Musa told journalists that they were planning to formally present the form to President Buhari when he must have settled down after his official visit to China. 

NCAN had on Wednesday purchased the Expression of Interest and Nomination forms for President Buhari at  the cost of N45 million. 

According Musa, the group embarked on the project based on the recognition that the President has started laying a good foundation for a better Nigeria and that there is need to consolidate on the gains so far made.