Need for equity and disclosures in campaign funding

It's never easy to pin political parties down on their campaign finances. Despite provisions in the Electoral Act limiting campaign spendings and donations, the process is far from being transparent and accountable. For those in government, there's hardly any distinction between public resources and what they claim as their personal funds. Apart from having easy access to public funds, incumbent office holders also corral huge sums from private and corporate citizens, in anonymous and undisclosed donations. At the end of the day, there is an unlevel playing field that confers undue advantage in favour of ruling parties. It is a tradition that compromises the electoral space long before elections. That is not the intention of democracy, and does not produce free and fair contests. That is why the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), has asked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and its chair, Prof. Joash Amupitan, to disclose whether the Commission has exercised its power to prescribe limits on political contributions to campaign funds under Section 91 of the Electoral Act 2026, to publish the applicable limits and communicate it to political parties, candidates, donors and the public. SERAP asked INEC to: 'Disclose the systems, personnel and procedures it has put in place to monitor, investigate and enforce compliance with political contribution and campaign expenditure limits during the ongoing 2027 electoral process' and to 'disclose its methodology for monitoring political financing, including arrangements for identifying and addressing cash and in-kind contributions, digital and social-media financing, third-party expenditure, and donations through intermediaries that could potentially circumvent statutory limits.' Advertisement The Electoral Act 2026, in Sections 89, 91, 93 and 94 empowers INEC to cap contributions to parties, limit what candidates can spend, prohibit party ownership of foreign fund and report on parties' expenditures. Parties are not to accept anonymous monetary or other contributions and gifts from any source. Parties are to keep an account and asset book into which all monetary contributions shall be recorded. Parties are to supply the names, amount and addresses of donors. They cannot accept donations of more than N50 million unless they identify the source to the Commission. Finally, parties are to file reports of their revenues and expenditure with details of donors six months after results of elections have been announced. The account statement by parties' auditor(s) are to be accompanied by a sworn affidavit. It is not accountability to leave filing of returns to parties. SERAP and other accountability bodies believe that for there to be a level-playing field and give parties equitable visibility in their campaign engagements with citizens, INEC should deploy capacity to track the funds and follow the process. INEC must trace the funds, investigate their sources and report to the National Assembly. INEC is to also publish the report so that the civil society and media are able to scrutinise parties' campaign funding. On paper, the Act meant well, but historically, it has not worked because there are gaps parties exploit to gather enormous unaccounted funds, enough to institutionalise vote buying. INEC must follow the money, from the donations (bank transfers) to actual disbursements. Advertisement The unlevel playing field The All Progressives Congress (APC) is way ahead of the opposition in the campaigns. On August 22, 2026, the party unveiled a 108-man Presidential Campaign Council that mimics an armada of warships ahead of a major confrontation. President Bola Tinubu is himself the chairman of the council, assisted by Vice President Kashim Shettima as vice chairman. It is an elaborate council with a Director General and five deputies to handle planning and monitoring, mobilisation, administration, logistics and infrastructure. The 31 governors that have openly identified with APC are listed in the council, with some being zonal coordinators. After announcing the intimidating campaign council, APC failed to accompany it with a budget, an estimate of expected revenue, sources and projected expenditure. That's what any serious organisation would do to demonstrate accountability and love for due process. Or, announce a fund-raising for the purpose of meeting expenses. A ruling party that claims to fight corruption should expose its sources of campaign funds and the tax implications. The bigger a campaign council the more elaborate the expenses. The trail would be expected to touch major locations in the geo-politic zones. That means travel expenses, accommodation, feeding, security and campaign paraphernalia. The cost could be tremendous, but campaigns are also opportunities to boost local commerce. However, in a season of worsening poverty, a lean campaign council would have meant that the government feels citizens' pains. That itself would have been a resounding campaign message. But APC doesn't care. Since 1999, ruling parties have a tradition of misusing state institutions to coerce unfair advantage. Ruling parties crowd out the opposition through various means. They deny the opposition access to public spaces where campaigns are held. They inflate cost of outdoor advertisement to frustrate the opposition. They outspend the opposition and buy up the media space, despite the Electoral Act's provisions on equitable access to the media. That's why access to sources of funding should be disclosed, to ascertain whether they are legitimately earned. There were allegations around June 2026, that 31 APC governors converted monthly deductions from their state's FAAC allocations into a campaign fund set aside for President Tinubu's re-election. Report was that they set N1 trillion as target, of which N800 billion had been raised and expended on campaign vehicles without accountability to donors. The Progressives Governors' Forum had been upbeat, not to industrialise their states, but to re-elect the president. In November 2025, Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo State was appointed the National Coordinator/DG of Renewed Hope Ambassadors for Ward level. There was also a Renewed Hope Network into which funds have poured like rain, allegedly. Advertisement The pooling of N800 billion from Electoral Act 2026 became a major subject. The opposition cried foul and called the fleecing of FAAC 'shameless, cruel and criminal.' The African Democratic Congress (ADC), said it was unfair to misapply allocations that were meant to take care of citizens' education, health and salaries in states into campaigns. SERAP petitioned INEC to investigate the diversion, but the APC dismissed the figure as 'false and laughable,' suggesting that the amount might not be up to that. They noted then that INEC's official campaign window for 2027 had not opened, therefore they could not discuss campaign funding. Now that the campaigns have opened officially, can they furnish Nigerians with the details of that allegation? Unfortunately, accountability agencies such as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Crimes Commission (ICPC), are not motivated to look into these allegations where the government has vested interest. If the Electoral Act 2026 caps presidential spending at N10 billion and single donor at N500 million, why are states being denied their N800 billion? FAAC allocation are constitutionally protected, and should remain so. But if the INEC, the EFCC and the ICPC are unable to track campaign financing, citizens would be shortchanged. The people would be denied the opportunity to engage and interact with all parties on equal basis. The government party will dominate the space at every level. That is not fair competition. Dislocated opposition Meanwhile, major opposition parties are yet to constitute campaign councils for 2027. They have not been stable and organised. They have been entangled in litigation, from which they are not yet completely free. In the last Osun governorship election, it was the same week of election the candidate of a faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was ordered by the court to be put on the ballot. The three days was too short for any meaningful engagement with voters. The party waived its right and decided to support Governor Ademola Adeleke. Similarly, the candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) was ordered to be on the ballot that election week. Little or no time for serious campaigns. This is the present danger that confronts the opposition. There are still cases in court: The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has a pending matter regarding its leadership crisis. The case of former state chairmen who sued the David Mark interim committee leadership has not been vacated. The Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), is not free of litigation. The party has two separate ongoing court matters. It has the deregistration suit by All Democratic Alliance (ADA) and the logo the dispute with the Lokoja Federal High Court, brought by the unregistered Peace Movement Party are still there. The Social Democratic Party (SDP), is also grappling with leadership crisis between the Shehu Gabam and Prof. Sadiq Umar Gombe. The Peoples Redemption (PRP), also has active cases in court relating to primaries and the candidates that emerged. When parties don't have a rest of mind, they can hardly plan for campaigns. There are worries that those who engineer the mutiple litigation have not given up. They're perhaps waiting and calculating their risks: which of the opposition parties could present more headache and how to tighten the legal noose! For now, there is no certainty in the opposition. That affects plans for 2027; the campaigns, funding and other strategies. Not unexpected, the opposition just admitted that not pulling resources and men together might cost it the election. The parties might not have individual strength to combat the ruling party. They have formed the G100 platform to advise the candidates on why they must join forces. They do not have too much time, but that must be settled so that they have clear ideas on the way forward. Whatever happens to them collectively and separately, the issues are very clear to millions of Nigerians. They know their sources of problems. Perhaps, the opposition might explore the immense opportunities available on social media as back-up. The candidate of the African Action Alliance (AAA), Omoyele Sowore, announced last week that he raised N5.5 million in less than 24 hours after the launch of N1 million crowdfunding for his presidential campaign. There's help out there. Food for thought for the opposition!