The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, has expressed his disappointment that more than a year after the 2019 elections, over 60 per cent of the political parties have not filed their statutorily required election financial records contrary to the provisions of the Electoral Act. In what sounded like an alarm, the INEC chairman reminded party leaders of their obligations under the electoral law and the 1999 Constitution.
The Electoral Act 2010 (as amended) requires each political party to submit two election expenses reports to INEC. One of those reports should contain a full accounting of material contributions received from individuals and corporate bodies three months after the announcement of the results of the general election as provided for in Section 93 (4) of the Electoral Act. Secondly, the parties are also required to submit audited returns of the election expenses within six months after an election in conformity with Section 92 (3) of the Electoral Act. Only one presidential candidate out of 73 has submitted a financial expenses report.
The reticence of political parties in discussing and filing their election expenses says so much about the diligence and the integrity of the officials and, perhaps, the cleanliness of the campaigns and the elections. Indeed, all over the world, the transparency of campaign finance reporting is often viewed as the greatest indicator of how transparent and fair an election was. It, therefore, speaks volumes that more than one year after the 2019 elections, many Nigerian political parties have not deemed it fit to file with INEC their expenses.
Exceeding the stipulated election expenses is always a knotty issue and a source of concern because of the ever-present risk and suspicion that an election could be compromised by too much influence of money thereby defeating the whole purpose of democracy. But from every prudent point of observation, INEC’s concern about the financial diligence of the parties and candidates tend to be spotty if not an after-thought. We have not observed a systematic effort on the part of the commission to scrutinise what the parties do with money and how they raise it and how they strive to obey the regulations concerning finance.
The issue of money is made even more pertinent in a situation devoid of standardised method of political funding. For instance, a Nigerian presidential candidate is constrained to spend only N100 million for his or her campaign. The figure was later raised to N1 billion. Unlike the United States where candidates make monthly report about their fund-raising and expenses and the movement of money into and from the campaigns is watched with eagle eyes by the Federal Elections Commission (FEC), with very active help from determined non-governmental organisations, the mechanics for financial control and monitoring seems non-existent in Nigeria.
Yet, there are sanctions for violation of the regulations. In 2011, all the opposition parties spent N2.04 billion in traceable expenditures which automatically showed that the candidates exceeded the N100 million spending limit. Even more alarming was the fact that the ruling party at the time, the Peoples Democratic Party, spent a princely sum of N5.01 billion in 2011 far in excess of the spending limit. The figures did not get better in 2015 when the same ruling party, the PDP, reportedly shelled out N8.74 billion as the opposition parties spent N2.96 billion. And there is no reason to believe that the 2019 candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has spent any less than his PDP counterpart in 2015.
We must admit that money and politics do go together. Most of the activities involved in democratic elections involve spending at almost every level. Yet democracy expects a delicate balance of prudence and a sense of proportion so as not to push the agenda of the votes going to the highest bidder as in an auction, and candidates are not seen to be corrupting the voter with cash and other inducements, a phenomenon that has been observable in the last few years.
It is bad enough already that the overall impression of the Nigerian system is that it is essentially a plutocracy in which the rich use their wealth to purchase political power and in so doing get even richer, consolidating their power. But the monetisation of our politics is an ill-wind that sustains evils like corruption and nepotism. INEC should wake up in the financial monitoring of political parties and candidates and help make the process look cleaner, not the present cash and carry culture. Close financial monitoring would decrease violence, and ensure a free, fair and credible election.