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Candidate Sunny Monyedafe, who participated in the All Progressives Congress (APC) national convention to be held on March 26, 2022, has accused the party leadership led by Abdullahi Ganduje of failing to express interest and refund his candidacy fee. dragged into court.
Naija News understands that the case will be heard at the Abuja High Court tomorrow, Monday, October 28th.
Monidafe confirmed this development in an interview with Punch.
The APC chief explained that due to some unforeseen circumstances, he had to file a lawsuit to recover the nomination fee.
The lawsuit comes two years after displeased aspirants called on the immediate past national chairman, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, and other members of the national working committee to resign.
Monidafe said that despite former President Muhammadu Buhari’s instructions to refund the funds due to Adamu and NWC members’ resignation, the ruling party steadfastly refused to refund the money to them.
Mr Monidafe said: “God knows we have done our best to keep this issue private for so long. Since Dr Abdullahi Ganduje took office, we I have also written to them, visited them and petitioned them.Last time I went there with Barrister Adebayo Shittu and some chiefs and petitioned them in vain.
“This cannot continue. Let the world know about our plight and acknowledge that we have done our best. It’s not fair. That’s why we had to take legal action. At least now. Now they can go to court and formally convey their position to Nigerians. We have created a platform to continue communicating with ourselves on this issue.”
Some other applicants interviewed by the aforementioned publication lamented that they had exhausted all options to get their money back.
The 107 applicants who competed for various positions in the NWC structure paid between ₦20 million and ₦25 million each, depending on the category of expression of interest and nomination form.
At the end of the exercise, the APC had raised over N700 million, with a further N3 billion generated among stakeholders and party members ahead of the presidential primaries.
In one of the letters, dated June 21, 2022 and addressed to Mr. Adamu and attached by 107 signatories, the aggrieved aspirants are the last party to elect various candidates. They accused the party of excluding them from active participation and duties in the primaries.
Reacting to the development, the National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Felix Molka, told Punch that the issue had received attention and would be resolved soon.
