An aggrieved aspirant for the House of Representatives, Fagge Federal Constituency, Kano, Hon Osita Nwankwo, on Monday demanded for the refund of his N500,000 nomination fee paid to the leadership of Labour Party to contest the primaries, since the slot had been allocated to another aspirant.
According to him, this followed the refusal of the Labour Party leadership to offer him the ticket to represent Fagge Constituency, Kano at the National Assembly, due to his failure to pay the N.5 million, requested by the LP leadership for the ticket
“I paid the said amount to the Labour Party’s Account, number: 1021575052, with UBA and 20634382, with same UBA on July 6, 2022, representing N400, 000 for nomination fee paid directly to the party’s account and N100, 000 as waiver, since I was not a member of the party before the nomination. I paid N100, 000 into the legal adviser’s account, with same UBA, bringing the total sum to N500, 000, with documentary evidence of payment.”
According to him, he was requested to pay what he can afford for the ticket, adding that he voluntarily paid the sum of N500,000, which the party rejected, insisting for the payment of N3 million for the ticket and N5 million for waiver.
Following his inability to pay the said N3 million and N5 million respectively, the party leadership subsequently offered the ticket to one Shuaibu Abubakar, who fulfilled their conditions.
To this end Nwankwo said, “I officially wrote to the LP leadership, requesting for the refund of my N500, 000 since the ticket has been offered to Abubakar, who fulfilled their condition.
“Six months after making the request for the refund from the party leadership, there haS been no response, hence my using this medium to seek for the refund of my money, as it is evident that the party is unwilling to refund me, despite offering the ticket to another aspirant on payment of the said amount.”
Similarly, the aggrieved aspirant confirmed that the state chapter of the party had since refunded the N90, 000 he earlier paid, as expression of interest fee, pointing out that what is now pending is the refusal of LP leadership to refund his N500, 000,to reflect the party’s transparency and sincerity.
“I am therefore seeking the urgent refund of my N500, 000, to demonstrate the party’s transparency, accountability and sincerity in the management of its affairs,” he said.
Numerous efforts to contact the Kano Labour Party Chairman, Mohammed Raji, for his reaction failed as he neither responded to our reporter’s calls nor the WhatsApp messages forwarded to him as at the time of filing this report.
