By Omoniyi Salaudeen
Though with an admixture of skepticism and cautious optimism from the Nigerian populace, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is forging ahead with the field trial of its newly acquired voting technology- Biomodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), as well as the implementation of the 2022 amended Electoral Act. These are pivotal to the success or failure of the coming 2023 general elections.
While the recent governorship election in Ekiti State serves as a good indicator of the performance of the electoral umpire and the effectiveness of BVAS in addressing the issue of electoral frauds, the enforcement of the new electoral guidelines, especially the aspect that puts a ceiling on campaign funding by party candidates still leaves much to be desired.
Out of the gamut of amendments made to the electoral bill by the current National Assembly, this is one aspect that has generated so much concern and apprehension among the stakeholders in recent time.
The apprehension becomes more intense with the experience of the just concluded election in Ekiti State where there was an alleged widespread report of vote-buying and general inducement of voters.
Primarily, the motive behind the limit of spending is to prevent monetisation of the electoral process so as to improve the level of trust between the electorate and party candidates. However, observation by political watchers showed that the conduct of the recent presidential primaries of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was largely in breach of the guideline.
In view of this, concerned state actors and commentators are getting increasingly worried that if the trend continues, it will ultimately shut out women and youths from the political process and governance to the advantage of moneybags.
The 2022 amendment act as signed by President Muhammadu Buhari allows presidential candidates to increase their cash haul from N1 billion to N5 billion, while governorship candidates will be able to spend up to N1 billion instead of N200 million originally permitted by the 2010 Electoral Bill. For senatorial candidates, the ceiling has been raised from N40 million to N100 million, while those aspiring for seats in the House of Representatives can now fund their electioneering to the tune of N70 million as against the N30 million hitherto permitted by the extant law. And for the State Assembly, candidates would be free to access N30 million instead of the previous N10 million limit.
Although the INEC has yet to declare a notice for the 2023 general elections, the underhand dealings that characterised the just concluded presidential primaries have already cast a doubt on the capacity of the enforcement agencies to monitor the state actors and bring erring individuals to justice.
The Chairman of the INEC, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, at a recent conference on political campaign finance organised by the Electoral Forum in Abuja, had expressed the readiness of the commission to beam its searchlight on politicians and political parties in a bid to track the sources of funds for their campaigns, adding that a team had been set up to monitor election spending ahead of the general elections.
Represented by Prof Ajayi Kunle, INEC’s National Commissioner in charge of the party monitoring committee, Yakubu said: “We have not officially declared a notice for the 2023 general elections, but when we so declare, we will put our monitoring committees in motion like the Central Bank, Department of State Services (DSS), EFCC, Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC), the (commercial) banks and other law enforcement agencies.
“Every candidate must be made to declare his bank asset. That is where they draw out their money. So, we will make them present their statement of account right from the onset. We will make it mandatory for them to turn in their bank statement so that if they say they are doing billboard and the account remains the same, then there is a problem.”
Speaking further on the issue of vote-buying, he added: “We are going to establish finance monitoring teams and they will be among the electorate, but they (politicians and political parties) won’t know. We are going to do it in a way that the influence of money will be reduced because we want to make the electoral field a level playing ground for both rich and poor candidates and the electorate. Everybody will go on an equal economic level so that you won’t influence the voting pattern”.
In addition to monitoring spending, Section 93 of the electoral law also provides that “a political party sponsoring the election of a candidate shall, within three months of the announcement of the results of the election, file a report of the contributions made by individuals and entities to (INEC).”
According to the Act, failure to turn in their audited report “within six months of the election” could attract N5 million fine upon conviction, or N200,000 daily from the due date till submission, when an accurate report is not submitted within the stipulated period.
In spite of all these legal instruments, however, INEC has not been able to demonstrate enough capacity to track sources of funding for political candidates. As already observed in the presidential primaries and Ekiti election, the money politicians spend behind the scene is far more than what the electoral act contemplates. So much reckless were some aspirants in doling out dollars to delegates that the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) had to raise the alarm about the inability of its members to access forex, a development that shot up the exchange rate to N600 per dollar. The trend still remains a talking point in the polity.
Perhaps, part of the limiting factors to the powers of the INEC to checkmate the excesses of political actors is the fact that the current electoral law does not state any punishment for default by political parties that fail to present an audited reports of their spending during elections. Even where that is done, third-party intervention often makes tracking a daunting challenge.
Senator Rufai Hanga in his conversation with Sunday Sun on the matter dismissed the Act as a mere paper policy.
His words: “It is not enforceable. How do you monitor how much politicians spend? We don’t have the facilities and the political will to monitor it. Even if it can be monitored, nobody cares to monitor it. So, the question of limiting how much can be spent is not possible. People spend much more than what is stipulated in the law. The law is just law by name, but it doesn’t mean anything.
“It cannot be enforced even with the collaboration of the EFCC and the banks. Will the candidates give cheques to people? Will they transfer money when they are spending on electioneering? The money is stashed somewhere in cash and they know how to share it. Don’t you see how the dollar was being counted on social media during the last presidential primaries of political parties? Didn’t you see how money was going round in Ghana-must-go? Was EFCC not there? What did they do about it? EFCC was there, but didn’t do anything about it. The fact is that we don’t operate a system that can track how much politicians spend during elections. If we are serious about controlling how much people spend during elections, why can they control how much they spend on buying nomination forms? When the APC sold its form for N100 million, did they intend to control how much candidates will spend in the elections? How can responsible people spend that kind of money to buy form? Only those who have stolen public money can buy form with that amount. We are in big shit. They were giving out money freely in the open and nobody said anything because the police were also compromised.”
Alhaji Buba Galadima, also decrying the reckless manner with which money exchanged hands in an outpouring of emotions, said: “We have two sets of laws. One for the preferred people, and the other for the unwanted people. You can only commit an offence, if you are not wanted. If they love you, even if you kill, they will look the other way. If not, how on earth can someone spend N50 billion to claim a party ticket and you expect him to work for the interest of the people.
“In the first place, where did he get this money? Secondly, what will he do when he gets there? I know that money plays a significant role in elections in Nigeria and that is why we left the APC and the PDP because we don’t have that kind of money to play around with. We will continue to prayw, we will continue to talk so that God can touch the hearts of the INEC people to be just and fair to all political parties. We hope they will live to expectation.”
On the flip side, the Chairman of Presidential Advisory Committee on anti-corruption, Prof Itse Sagay, was of the strong opinion that the guideline was well-intentioned and enforceable, but blamed the EFCC and ICPC for their inaction. “The guideline is enforceable. It actually sets a limit to what candidates can spend. I cannot blame INEC for its inability to enforce it. It is a job for the EFCC and ICPC. Failure to do it will put the blame squarely at their doors. They don’t need to catch them all at once. All they need to do is to get a few of them and make them an example. Exchange of money is done secretly, but I believe if the security agencies are on alert and they have a wide dragnet, they will be able to find out one or two people to serve as an example.
“There are instances where you see people fighting and quarreling over money collected. Those people can be arrested so that they can give the details of who gave them the money. We may not be able to arrest everybody, but we can get a few and make them a scapegoat. That will discourage other people,” he posited.
For obvious reasons, the stake in the coming general elections is very high. All eyes are, therefore, on the INEC as well as security operatives to do the needful so as to ensure a seamless transition process.
This can only be achieved by regulating the activities of the state actors in compliance with the electoral amendment guidelines.