The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has
warned political parties against receiving funds from “anonymous sources” for
the 2023 elections.
Festus Okoye, INEC spokesperson, said this on Friday during
an interview with Channels Television.
Ahead of the 2023 elections, there have been a series of
debates on the legality of crowdfunding, including diaspora funding, to raise
money for campaigns for political parties and their candidates.
Asked how INEC will monitor crowdfunding for campaign
organisations, Okoye said political parties are not to spend funds from
anonymous sources.
“The law is very
clear. The law says that no political party is obligated to receive funds from
sources it cannot testify to — anonymous sources,” he said.
“And the law is very clear that when people donate funds to
you (referring to political parties), you should get their names, know their
addresses, and so on.
“If you receive funds from a source you cannot identify, you
should turn in such funds to the INEC. The law is also clear that every
registered political party in Nigeria must and shall maintain proper books of
accounts where it will record the sources of funds, money received, expenditure
it has made, and the place where it received such funds from.
“If a political party
receives funds that it cannot account for or does not know its source, that
particular political party ought to report to INEC that it received such
funds.”
Section 225 (3) of the constitution states that: “No
political party shall — hold or possess any funds or other assets outside
Nigeria; or be entitled to retain any funds or assets remitted or sent to it
from outside Nigeria.”
Speaking on the legal provisions of campaign funding, Okoye
said section 225 of the 1999 constitution (as amended) does not allow political
parties to receive funds from outside the country.
“The guiding electoral legal framework for this election remains
the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), the
Electoral Act of 2022 , the regulations and guidelines rolled out by INEC,”
Okoye said.
“If you look at
section 225 of the constitution, it makes it very clear that no registered
political party in Nigeria shall possess any fund outside the country.
“In other words, a political party cannot open an account
and have money remitted into that particular account outside the Federal
Republic of Nigeria.
“Secondly, it makes it clear that no political party shall,
under any circumstance, retain any funds remitted to it from outside the
country and if such funds are remitted to the political parties from outside
the country that political party has constitutional and legal obligation to
turn in such funds to INEC within a period of 21 days from the date of receipt
of such funds.
“That is the law and the constitutional stipulation, and the
political parties are aware of this stipulation.
“As far as section
225 of the 1999 constitution is concerned, it did not make any distinction. It
says you should not receive funds from outside.
“If you receive funds from Niger, Chad and Benin Republic,
it goes with the same issue because it seems to me that when people are talking
about not receiving funds, they are just looking at funds received from places
like the US, Germany and France and the rest of them. But the law says you
should not receive funds from outside the country.”
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