A campaign group, Friends of Asiwaju, has asked that friends of national leader of the APC, Bola Tinubu, should support in the purchase of the presidential nomination form of the All Progressives congress. 

This was communicated through a circular sent to the WhatsApp group of the clique. Peoples Gazette could not independently verify the group’s ties to Mr Tinubu or his official campaign for 2023 presidential election.

“For the friends of Asiwaju who wish to support the purchase of his expression of interest and nomination forms, we are pleased to enclose below the account details for your contributions.

“Account Number: ********** Sort code: 076083080 Bank: Polaris Bank Branch: Asokoro. We all have up till Thursday 28th April, 2022,” the statement read.

Not many Nigerians will consider Mr Tinubu incapable of purchasing forms for himself. The former Lagos governor has upped his donations since the contest for the 2023 presidency began unofficially.

On April 5, Mr Tinubu donated N50 million to victims of the Kaduna train attack, and barely a week after, he also donated N1 billion to Lagos State University’s Leadership Development Center.

Mr Tinubu has also donated N50 million each to victims of banditry attacks in Gussau, Zamfara state and Niger state.

Organising groups to purchase forms for electoral aspirants has become part of the politicking in Nigeria’s 23-year-old democracy.

Earlier in March, a group of young professionals purchased the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential nomination forms for former senate president Bukola Saraki.  

Some of these groups have been observed to be sponsored by the candidates themselves as a way to appeal to voters.