Most Parties Have Submitted 2023 Election Financial Reports – INEC

Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has revealed that majority of the 18 political parties which participated in 2023 general elections have submitted their Income and Expenditure Reports in compliance with the law.

The chief press secretary to the INEC chairman, Mr Rotimi Lawrence Oyekanmi, disclosed this in response to LEADERSHIP’s inquiry on the matter.
Oyekanmi said INEC is reviewing the reports and will be made public as soon as the process is completed but was silent on the specific time within which the documents could be divulged to Nigerians.

“Majority of the 18 political parties that participated in 2023 General Election have complied and submitted their Income and Expenditure Reports to INEC.

“Once the political parties submit their reports, the commission reviews them and they subsequently become public documents. As soon as that decision is taken, it will be made public, he stated.
Section 89 (3) of the Electoral Act stipulates that; “Election expenses of a political party shall be submitted to the Commission in a separate audited return within six months after the election and such return shall be signed by the political party’s auditors and countersigned by the chairman of the party and be supported by a sworn affidavit by signatories as to correctness of its contents.”

Also, Section 89 (4) of the Act states that: “A political party which contravenes subsection (3) commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a maximum fine of N1,000,000 and in the case of failure to submit an accurate audited return within the stipulated period, the court may impose a maximum penalty of N200,000 per day on any party for the period after the return was due until it is submitted to the Commission.”

The 2023 general election was conducted on February 25 for the Presidency and National Assembly while that of Governorship and State Houses of Assembly was held on March 18.
However, LEADERSHIP gathered that as at March, 2024 over one year after the general election only two political parties – the Labour Party (LP) and African Action Congress (AAC) had submitted their election financial report and presented it to the public.

The 18 political parties that participated in the 2023 polls include: the All Progressives Party (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP); All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), African Democratic Congress (ADC), Social Democratic Party (SDP), New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Action Peoples Party (APP), and Allied Peoples Movement (APM).

Others are Accord (A), Action Alliance (AA), Action Democratic Party (ADP), Boot Party (BP), National Rescue Movement (NRM), Young Progressive Party (YPP), Zenith Labour Party (ZLP), People’s Redemption Party (PRP) as well as LP and AAC.

Presidential candidate of AAC, Omoyele Sowore while presenting his campaign income and expenditure in June, last year, barely three months after the general election stated that about N40 million was generated while N38 million was received as donations, and he provided N1.8 million from his funds.

The national publicity secretary of the party, Femi Adeyeye had said in a statement that the party also released detailed sources of funding for its presidential campaign.

“In line with the best campaign practice and the spirit of accountability as we hold dear in the African Action Congress (AAC), the Sowore Political Action Committee (SPAC) has released a final breakdown of the 2023 Presidential election campaign donations, sources of funding and expenditure,” he had said.
The breakdown showed that N21 million was spent on conveyance; N5 million for the campaign and party activities; N3.3 million to cover the cost of printing; N2.5 million on media logistics; and N2.2 million on security and other volunteers.

Other expenditures include: N1.6 million on maintenance; N1.2 million for subscriptions; N1.3 million on welfare; N20,000 for consumables and N80,302 bank charges for the period.

Also, the Labour Party’s Obi/Datti campaign organisation had mid-February 2024 almost one year after the polls disclosed that it received donations, totalling N595.98 million from well-meaning Nigerians and N800 million from their presidential candidate.

The chairman of the Fundraising Team of the Campaign Organisation, Aisha Yesufu who disclosed that said: “From the donations from citizens, we received N595,976,994. We also received N800 million from the candidate.

“We deployed N744,500,000 to cover legal expenses. And then, in campaign and election activities, we had over N28.5 million. On the issue of legal fees, we had N8oom that the candidate himself brought.”