₦airaland Forum

Richard, I met you at Union Bank ATM few weeks ago. Well done my brother.
Even though this your party is a hard sell here in Enugu o!

See as them just dey admire my African nose. Lol.

Anyway, umu nwannem ndi 042, please feel free to post your pictures from the Coal City Marathon here o!

It was a half-marathon. We ran from Okpara Square to Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium.

To tell you the truth, I wasn't in it to win the $3,500 prize money. Not when the Kenyans were in the race. Lol. And as expected, they eventually won it.

As for me, I jogged, stopped eight times along the way and finished by trekking it out till I got to the stadium where I collapsed on the tracks. No be real collapse o! Na collapse of joy. Lol.

The thing is I was determined to finish what I started even if I had to crawl to the finish line. Right now, as I'm typing this, it is finished. I mean, my body is finished. As in, I feel like someone hit by a bulldozer. Lol.

This one na half-marathon o! Wetin for happen to me if na full marathon? I for just collapse for road. Lol.

Can you spot Ike Ekweremadu in my pictures below?

Look well. Lol.

I left my house in Agbani as early as 5:30am this morning to meet up with the Coal City Marathon which was scheduled to kickoff 6:30am at the Michael Okpara Square.

As usual, African time happened and the marathon begun around 7:30am. Lol. I guess the organizers had no choice but to delay things due to the arrival of the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu.

I'm surprised that there's no report of the sporting event here on Nairaland. That's why I'm posting this here.

The NEXT LEVEL is no shows at all. Lol.

Ok. Will watch then comment.

I even thought you had practical suggestions. SMH.

I suggest Atiku picks his running mate from the South-West.
VP or no VP, the South-East and South-South are already solidly behind PDP.
We'd be content with senate presidency when Atiku becomes president in 2019.

Hmmm... This is an eye-opener.

I wanted to run for a seat in the Enugu State House of Assembly under UPP but unfortunately I'm too poor to run.

I have good news for all our young aspiring politicians. In the course of my search for a more affordable youth-friendly political party, I found out that the United Progressive Party (UPP) is offering their nomination forms free to youths under 30years of age. Yes o! FREE!!! So please take advantage of the opportunity if you're interested.

And even if you're over 30years old, their nomination form fees are still the most affordable and youth-friendly. I must commend the UPP chairman and founder, Chekwas Okorie and his party executives for this wonderful initiative.

So, which business did you eventually venture into?

Meanwhile, I saw your comment on the other thread where you lamented about having so many ideas but not knowing what to do with your ideas. Whatsapp me +2349095000603 let's discuss.

We may be too poor to run but are we too poor to vote?
Let's reflect on this powerful artwork by our fellow Nigerian youth.

But there's already "pacifist", "peacekeeping" and "peacemaker" in the dictionary na.

And the prince of peace, Jesus Christ, is already the most celebrated person in human history too.

Blessed are the peacemakers like Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, Goodluck Jonathan...

I was Googling this same thing and landed here and still no answer. Lol.

Anyone who knows the Igbo name of TURMERIC should tell us biko.

We need to know what to call it if we're looking for it in our local markets. If you show market women the picture, they'll think it's ginger.

Mankosi:
unfortunately this is a wrong place to write this cos she's not on nairaland so doesn't see ur post.

You're right. But remember that there are many ANITA JOSEPHs here on Nairaland. Lol.

There's actually ideology in Nigerian politics. Let me pin-point the ideology of some Nigerian political parties.

PDP - Share the money
APC - Oppose and blame PDP
APGA - Igbo agenda
AD - Yoruba agenda
LP - Workers' well-being

However, the single general ideology of all Nigerian parties is STOMACH INFRASTRUCTURE as coined by Ayo Fayose. Lol.

Madam Anita, you're most likely putting on a waist-trainer under that dress jor. Lol. You need to workout to lose some weight cos if you continue like this, in the next 5years you'll be obese o!

I specialize in training women like you ma. Contact me if you need a fitness-trainer.

Inviting my old Nairaland friends Pavore9 BobUgee Jefy Chriswazo to the roundtable. Please, come in here let's brainstorm on the way forward.

xangerar:
It is quite pathetic. I have a senior associate who is vying for a House of Representative seat under the PDP in Imo State. His people have drained him and the primaries aren't yet due until mid September.

He is begrudging them. Now he tells me he understands why every politician who wins consider such position as an avenue to make wealth and to recoupe his expenditure.

As far back as when Peter Obi ran for the first time in 2003 for the Anambra governorship position, he came in with N200 Million for a start.

I was surprised to hear from no less a person than Chief Bode George himself that in 2015, an aspirant in PDP Lagos paid 200,000 Naira to each party delegate for their votes at the Guber primaries.

According to Tunde Bakare, Nasir El-Rufai borrowed over N170Million from him in 2015 to fund his campaigns in Kaduna. He paid back 2 years after taking office as Governor.

When Pat Utomi went to University of Lagos some years back and asked students to contribute to his campaign, they were all looking at him strangely. To them it was weird. He was supposed to give them rather, they thought.

In the US democracy we copied,people donate to the campaigns of the candidate of their choice and there is a limit to the amount that can be spent by any politician.

There is also a limit anyone can donate to a candidate to eliminate the godfather syndrome. But here, its the opposite.

One of Rabiu Kwankwaso's grouse with President Buhari, according to Adams Oshiomhole is that
Rabiu Kwankwaso brought a lot of money to fund Buhari's campaign in 2015 but was not given juicy positions and contracts by Buhari to enable him recoupe his investment.

How then can we expect service if we rob those who want to serve and put them in huge debt.

Hmmm... You have really made a lot of revelations sir.

How do we correct this moneytization of Nigeria's politics?

For me, I think the Not Too Young To Run law is a step 1 in the right direction.
Step 2. Not Too Poor To Run law.
This is to make nomination forms and the campaign process more affordable and within the reach of the legally responsible average Nigerian.
Step 3. Reduction of the allowances of politicians.
This will reduce the perception of Nigerian politics as a business venture. Similarly, I agree with nex who argues for constituency project fund which is allocated to the members of the National Assembly to be scrapped. Legislators should face their constitutional duty of making laws. That constituency project fund should instead be given to local governments who are nearer to the people.
Step 4?

*passing the microphone*
Over to you sir, ladies and gentlemen. Please let's brainstorm.

xangerar:
Quite a pity. Electoneering is such an expensive venture for those seeking serve, little wonder they end up serving themselves only when they succeed.

Exactly!!! That is the tragedy of Nigerian politics.

Immediately I saw the cost of buying nomination forms, I said, "No wonder!"

No wonder Nigerian politicians are as corrupt, selfish and greedy as they are. It gets worse when the electorates demand bribes (cash, bags of rice etc) before they vote for an aspirant.

That is the reason I'm determined not to bribe anybody to vote me into power. I will convince them with my ONE AGENDA and they will vote for me out of the conviction of their conscience and belief in my cause.

SCREENING PROCEDURE FOR STATE HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY ASPIRANTS

(3.) The screening procedure for an aspirant in the primary election of the Party into the State House of Assembly shall be as follows:

(a.) an aspirant shall obtain the Expression of Interest Form, with the prescribed nonrefundable fee of Twenty Thousand Naira (N20,000) from the National Secretariat of the Party or such other place as may be designated by the National Executive Committee of the Party, and, on completion, return same to the National Secretariat;

(b.) an aspirant shall obtain the Nomination form –from the National Secretariat of the Party or such other place designated by the National Working Committee of the Party and evidenced upon payment of the prescribed non-refundable fee of Two Hundred Thousand Naira (N200,000) ; save that female aspirants and persons with disabilities (PWD) shall pay 50% (half) of the prescribed nomination fee;

(c.) The Nomination form shall contain signatures of not less than 30 (thirty) persons from at least two-thirds of all Local Government Areas within the State Constituency, who shall be registered voters in their respective Local Government Areas and also registered members of the Party.

(d.) a duplicate copy of Voter’s Registration Card of the aspirant shall be attached to the duly completed Nomination form;

(e.) a copy of the Party Membership Card of the aspirant shall be attached to the duly completed Screening;

(f.) An aspirant shall provide a reference from his/her bank stating that he/she has been a customer for at least (five) years preceding the date of the primary election or from his/her last employer;

(g.) the duly completed Nomination forms shall be accompanied by a sworn declaration made before a Commissioner of Oaths or Notary Public undertaking to abide by the guidelines, all laws and any rules or regulations made by the Party relating to the conduct of primary elections and code of conduct on behavior and directives of the Party for its members or State House of Assembly primaries.

(h.) An aspirant shall ensure that all the information supplied by him/her in the relevant Nomination form is true and correct. Any aspirant who gives false information or makes false declaration in the Nomination form shall be disqualified and the Party shall reserve the right to report to the law enforcement authorities.

(i.) The decision of the National Executive Committee of the Party on all primary election matters shall be final, subject only to the right appeal by an aggrieved aspirant.

GROUNDS FOR DISQUALIFICATION

(2.) An aspirant shall not be qualified to contest the primary election to the National Assembly, if he/she:

(a.) Fails to produce his/her personal income tax certificate, or any evidence that he/she has paid his/her income tax for the last preceding three years or evidence of exemption from payment of personal income tax; or

(b.) Presents a false birth certificate or declaration of age for the purpose of the primary election or for any purpose whatsoever; or

(c.) Has been indicted for any misconduct set out in Section 61 (1) of the Constitution of the Party and has been punished in accordance of Section 62 (1); or

(d.) Has been dismissed from the public service of the Federation or of a State or Local Government Area Council or from any other employment in the public or private sector, or

(e.) Is a member of a secret society; or

(f.) Has been adjudged guilty of treason or treasonable felony by any court in Nigeria; or

(g.) Has been convicted by a court of competent jurisdiction of any criminal offence including homicide, fraud or dishonesty or the sale or use of narcotic drugs or any other psychotropic substances by any court of competent jurisdiction in Nigeria or within the Commonwealth or elsewhere; or

(h.) Under the law in any part of Nigeria, he/she is adjudged to be a lunatic or otherwise declared to be of unsound mind; or

(i.) Is an undischarged bankrupt, having been adjudged or otherwise declared bankrupt under any law in force in Nigeria or any other country; or

(j.) Has been convicted for embezzlement or fraud by a court of competent jurisdiction.

Apart from the money aspect, there are certain conditions that must be met if you want to contest in an election. I copied and pasted these from the Youth Party Guidelines for Primaries PDF document. Thanks to them for making it free for download on their website. I encourage you to download the full PDF document that I've uploaded on this thread and read it yourself. Of course I'll share the section from the state house of assembly segment (which is the office I'm interested in) though I observed that the same requirements applies to all the other elective positions like president, governor, senator, house of reps etc. The only difference is the expression of interest and nomination fees for the respective offices.


QUALIFICATION

(1) An aspirant for primary election to the State Houses of Assembly shall:

(a.) Be a citizen of Nigeria;

(b.) Fulfill all the conditions set out in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, the Constitution of the Party and the provisions of any other relevant law and these Guidelines;

(c.) Be a registered voter and attached a copy of his/her voters registration card to the duly completed Nomination form;

(d.) Complete and submit the Expression of Interest Form;

(e.) Resign/retire from office if a political appointee, civil servant, public servant or party official not later than 7 (seven) days before the date of the collection forms for the Primary Elections;

(f.) Possess educational qualification not below the level of Senior Secondary Certificate or its equivalent according to Section 65 (2) (a); and

(g.) Is a duly registered member of the Party whose name is contained in the membership register of the Party.

Greenarrow01 I really loved that your godfather comment on Nejeeb Oyarese's campaign thread. You strike me as a realist. Please sir do you have any advice for youths like me who neither want to disciple nor judas any godfather? Lol.

As for you nex sir, could you please open up on how you got the nomination form for the senatorial seat you're running for? How much was it under the Accord Party?

I could be wrong but I think these are the real questions we should answer to truly encourage Nigerian youths to run for office.

post=70796143:
This is a very good thread... Good job OP!

Thank you Buhari's first son. Lol.