The National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Adams Oshiomhole has alleged that some of the registered political parties have been collecting money from the bigger parties to endorse their candidates for the 2019 general elections.

Speaking on Wednesday when a delegation of the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and the International Republic Institute paid him a courtesy visit at the APC headquarters in Abuja, Oshiomhole said that such parties have rubbished the idea behind the Supreme Court judgment which stated that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) should register as many groups as possible as political parties.

Oshiomhole said many of such existing small political parties have been busy making brisk business from the so-called bigger parties, accusing them of demanding for money to endorse candidates of other parties instead of producing their own candidates.

The APC Chairman also knocked civil society groups, many of whom he claimed were being sponsored by political parties as election observers, disclosing that some of such civil society groups had come to solicit for money from him to write favourable reports.

The former Edo State governor claimed that many political parties which he described as democratic merchants, have approached him demanding for money for them to endorse the candidacy of President Muhammadu Buhari.

His words: “Our constitution guaranteed the freedom of association. INEC tried to restrict the registration of political parties. The judiciary said no, you can register anybody who wants to.

“But the result is that we have a long ballot paper, which poses challenges on the  election day with regard to how people are going to identify who to vote for.

“But, more worrisome is that you form a party today, tomorrow you gang up that we are not producing candidates; we are supporting this.

“I can tell you how many requests I have from these so-called political parties that if you pay me this, we will announce that we are supporting your presidential candidate.

“So people have formed political parties as platform for trading. We must be careful so that in the name of freedom, we do not create democratic merchants, creating more confusion, generating more heat.”