THE WHISTLER‘s Lukman ABDULMALIK examines the numbers, the voices, and the democratic crisis hiding in plain sight.
Musa Garba is 29 years old, holds a first-class degree in political science from Bayero University Kano, has spent four years as a community development volunteer in his Gwale neighbourhood, and knows the streets of his ward better than most politicians who have represented it.
He has a vision for constituency development, a network of trust among the youth in his area, and, by any reasonable democratic standard, the makings of a credible candidate for the Kano State House of Assembly in 2027.
There is just one problem. The nomination form for his party (APC) costs N6 million, and that is the cheapest among the major parties.
“I earn about N80,000 a month working for an NGO,” Garba told THE WHISTLER.
“To get that form, I would need to save every single kobo of my salary for more than six years without spending anything on rent, food, or transport. How is that democracy?”
Garba’s arithmetic is not an exaggeration. It is a precise description of the wall that Nigeria’s two dominant political parties — the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) — have erected between ordinary citizens and the political process ahead of the 2027 general elections. And the numbers, when laid bare, are staggering.
The Price Tag on Democracy
The APC has fixed the cost of its 2027 presidential nomination form at N100 million, a figure that is nearly twice the total legitimate salary a president earns over four years, and more than 1,000 times Nigeria’s monthly minimum wage.
The breakdown is equally sobering: presidential aspirants pay N30 million for the Expression of Interest form and N70 million for the nomination itself.
Governorship aspirants pay a combined N50 million, Senate N20 million, House of Representatives N10 million, and State House of Assembly N6 million.
The PDP faction aligned with FCT Minister Nyesom Wike is not far behind. It fixed the total cost for its presidential expression of interest and nomination forms at N51 million, governorship at N31 million, Senate and House of Representatives at N7 million and N4 million respectively.
The All Progressives Grand Alliance went further still. APGA’s presidential aspirants face a combined fee of N75 million — N25 million for the expression of interest and N50 million for the nomination form.
Governorship aspirants pay a combined N35 million, Senate N21 million, House of Representatives N16 million, and State Assembly N8 million.
Only the African Action Congress charted a meaningfully different course. The AAC fixed the combined cost of its presidential expression of interest and nomination forms at N2.1 million — N100,000 for the expression of interest and N2 million for the nomination.
Governorship and Senate aspirants pay a combined N1.1 million each, House of Representatives aspirants pay N600,000, and State House of Assembly aspirants pay N250,000.
But the AAC is not a party with a realistic path to federal power. And therein lies the trap.
The Poor, Governed by the Wealthy
To fully grasp the absurdity of these figures, they must be placed against the economic reality of the country whose leadership these forms supposedly unlock.
The Nigerian president earns a total salary package of N1.17 million monthly — including a basic salary of N292,892, a hardship allowance of N146,446, and a consistency allowance of N732,230, according to the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission.
A Nigerian governor earns approximately N7.8 million annually. In other words, a governor would need to save his entire official salary — untouched — for more than six years to afford the APC’s governorship nomination form.
Nigeria’s national minimum wage stands at N70,000 per month, roughly N840,000 annually.
According to the Nigerian Consumer Outlook Report 2025, less than 1% of Nigerians earn above N1 million monthly, while the majority earns below N100,000 or has no stable income.
The World Bank estimates that more than 60 percent of Nigerians live below the national poverty line. For young Nigerians, savings are rare and access to capital is minimal.
Dr. Aysha Abdullahi, a political economist at B.U.K, told THE WHISTLER that the nomination form regime has effectively formalised the commodification of political candidacy.
“What these prices do is replace political merit with financial gatekeeping,” she said.
“You no longer ask: is this person qualified, do they have community support, do they have ideas? You ask: do they have N100 million? That is not a democratic process. That is an auction.”
The Youth Locked Out
Nigeria has one of the youngest populations in the world, and the numbers make the exclusion of youth from political office both a demographic paradox and a democratic tragedy. Youths make up over 67% of registered voters, which means that whoever they decide to vote for is sure of winning any election. Yet they wield almost no power within the structures that determine who is placed before them on the ballot.
What do you think about this?
Drop your opinion in the comment section.
FOLLOW US & Share this with someone who needs to see this.
