President Muhammadu Buhari will not have to pay for the nomination forms of the ruling All Progressives Congress for the 2019 presidential election because it has been allegedly paid for by a group of benevolent supporters.

According to the President’s aide on New Media, Bashir Ahmed, the forms which cost 45 million naira had been purchased by ‘a group of good Nigerians’. He also shared photos of the group who went to the party headquarters to secure Buhari’s expression of interest and nomination forms.

The President had earlier this year declared his intention to seek a second term on the ticket of the APC which brought him to power in 2015.

The cost of the forms has been seen by many Nigerians as prohibitive and and an attempt to monetize the political process and lock out young people who cannot afford the amounts.

While the APC has almost doubled its fees from 2015, the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have significantly reduced their fees.

The fee for forms for APC’s presidential primaries has been raised to ₦45 million from  ₦27.5 million in 2015 while that of governorship primaries which cost ₦10 million in 2015 has been increased to ₦22.5 million in 2018.

On the other hand, forms for PDP’s presidential primaries which cost ₦22 million in 2015 now have a reduced cost of ₦12 million while that of the governorship primaries were also slashed from ₦11 million in 2015 to ₦6 million.

Some critics however insist that the sums are still significant sums in a country  where some 87 million people live in extreme poverty, according to the World Poverty Clock.

The APC has offered a half-price discount for women and the disabled, while the PDP has made forms free for female candidates, all in a move designed to widen representation.