Town-Hall Meeting for Civil Society Practitioners and other Non-state Actors, the Media and Ordinary Nigerians

Town-Hall Meeting for Civil Society Practitioners and other Non-state Actors, the Media and Ordinary Nigerians at the Odiolowo-Ojuwoye Local Council Development Authority, Ilupeju-Lagos, May 5, 2016

Keynote Address from IAP Executive Director

Political finance is a mechanism by which political parties and candidates acquire power using, in most cases, illicit money or government resources. 

Political Finance could also mean political party finance and campaign expenses, even of candidates standing for elections.

Political finance covers all funds that are raised and spent for political purposes. Such purposes include all political contests for voting by citizens, especially the election campaigns for various public offices that are run by parties and candidates. It could also include the annual budgets of political parties that take care of the running of the Headquarters, branches and local chapters. Here, they spend money on things like public relations, mass media (including billboards), the expertise of consultants and offices. Local party chapters (e.g. constituency or ward units), which rely on volunteers (party activists), cover telecommunication and mail charges as well as rent offices, which they use as their centers of political activities.

Political finance expenses can also include

·       (i)   Election campaigns run by candidates, candidate committees, interest groups or political parties,

·        (ii)  Contests for nomination or re-selection of parliamentary candidates,

·         Training activities for party activists,  office holders or candidates, 
     (iii) Policy development by parties or party related bodies,

·        (iv)  Current operations of party organizations at the national, regional or local level and

·       (v)   Efforts to educate citizens with regard to popular initiatives, ballot issues or manifestos.

Given the definitions and various meanings of political finance, the centrality of money in politics, particularly in running the affairs of political parties and campaign expenses, cannot be over-stretched. Problem arises when illegal monies find their way into the political arena to determine election outcomes.  

However, it is no longer news that Nigeria conducted the worst highly monetized general elections in 2015 amounting to over N3 trillion. It is no longer news that over three-quarter of this money was looted from state treasuries across the country. Equally, it is no news anymore that proceeds of crimes – such as oil bunkering, drugs, transnational illegal business transactions etc – were wired into the country through money laundering.

Also, apart from looting the state treasuries, government resources (cars, broadcasting stations, civil servants, even serving ministers and state commissioners, and even officials of institutional agencies like national and state INEC,  Police, EFCC, DSS and even the military) were deployed to determine the outcomes of the 2015 elections to favour certain candidates.

Only God’s intervention and civil society’s resolute vigilance and determination to vote in, a new leadership rescued the nation from an impending doom.

Because:

(a) We now know (going by the unending discoveries of stolen public funds, sleaze, ghost workers, and unaccounted trillions of money by the 81 revenue collection agencies etc) that Nigeria, as a nation, has been bled dry.

(b)  We now know that the ‘Nigerian state capture’ by the political elite lies not in being able to win elections through electoral campaigns, manifestoes and fair contest but through phenomenal violence with attendant loss of lives and properties, billions of cash, god fathers/money bags, and compromise of officials of INEC, DSS, Police and party agents. So, the Nigerian people’s choices do not count but only those who hold the big cash and who are able to kill, maim and destroy with impunity.

(c)  We now know that individuals and companies do contribute to electoral campaigns in exchange for future favours from elected representatives like the President and Governors. For instance on December 20 2014, N21.7 billion was contributed to President Jonathan’s campaign by companies, government contractors, friends and associates, in exchange for future favours.

(d) We now know that illegal groups, such as organized crime, drug-trafficking or other armed groups, support candidates who in performing their duties will represent illegal interests. Indeed, some current senators are former drug barons and Boko Haram sponsors

(e)  We now know that resources used to fund electoral campaigns are raised individually by candidates and not by their parties, thereby creating the risk of personal commitment on the part of the candidate to the donor.

(f)   We now know that money contributed to electoral campaigns safeguards private interests and inhibits political parties and candidates, as witnessed in the case of Chris Ubah-Chris Ngige saga.

(g) We now know that one way to circumvent the electoral law which prescribes 90 days to the general elections as commencement date for political party-and-candidate campaigns is to set up emergency NGOs well funded by their sponsors to erect billboards across the country and hold political rallies in the six geo-political zones, ostensibly to persuade their sponsor-candidates to run for political offices.  

(h)  We now know that elected and appointed political office holders are self serving. They move around in convoys of cars with retinue of security details, and dole out largess only to those who can say ‘ranka dede’, all at tax payers’ money. They move around as if they are the best brains of our land. They are the new native imperialists, the oppressors, the carpetbaggers who brought nothing into government but are daily rushing in millions and billions into the banks, home and abroad.

(i)    We now know that many officials of INEC, DSS, Police and EFCC are compromised. Therefore, there is a weak institutional capacity of these agencies particularly INEC, first to monitor campaign expenses and sources of funding of political parties and candidates; and also conduct credible, free and fair elections.

(j)    We know today, Nigerians are not united and integrated because politicians have divided us. In spite of the fact that these politicians do not give back to their ethnic society, they resort to ethnic sentiments whenever they are arrested to account for their loots, misappropriation and mismanagement.

(k)  We know that it is common practice for governors and other elected officials to rent crowd to sing their praises as good caring leaders, with nothing to show for it. In the face of glaring corruption, some of them sponsor faceless, unidentifiable NGOs to carry placards in public rallies to show support to these leaders, as witnessed in the case of Senate President Bukola Saraki in Abuja, Fayose in Ekiti and Rochas Okorocha in Imo.

(l)    We now know that the Nigerian lawyers, though following the dictum that ‘a man is deemed innocent until proven guilty’ have unwittingly aided further corruption in Nigeria, not by choosing to defend corrupt leaders, but by wasting the time of the courts through frivolous technicalities. Indeed, some of them even pay judges to dismiss cases before them,

(m)                      We now know that six months after every general elections political parties and candidates who stood for elections are supposed to audit all the monies they received and spent during the election and submit the report to INEC, who in turn must make the report public. As we gather here today, no candidate or political party has ever done so since 2007. 

Given all these scenarios, what do we do?

As civil society practitioners, this is a clarion call, a wakeup call to rise up from lethargy to decisive action; from a slumbering spirit to civil engagement with government and other non-state actors; and from docility to active prognosis. We need to litigate INEC and the political parties over failure to audit their accounts and make them public.

In all of these, we need Reforms. 

·        Legislative Reforms:

During the tenure of Professor Jega, following IAP national dialogue on political finance on October 29 2014, INEC created a new department on November 17 to monitor political finance in terms of sources of funding to political parties and campaign expenses. At that time, Kayode Idowu media spokesperson to Jega, in a chat with IAP said INEC can only monitor fund sources to political parties and cannot prosecute. In contrast today, Professor Yakubu, new INEC chairman says INEC can prosecute but lacks the power to investigate and arrest. This is utterly conflicting. If INEC under Jega created a new department to monitor funds sources, for what purpose? While monitoring, that new department ought to be able to investigate funds sources, and upon completion, refer its report to the Commission’s legal department which can then approach the court for litigation against erring political parties and candidates. 

Who is the custodian of the Electoral Law? It is INEC. How then can it say it can prosecute but cannot investigate and arrest? This is an area for us to take up with INEC.  We need to unbundle INEC therefore by creating a new agency – the Electoral Offences Commission.

Electoral Act Reform

There is need for electoral reform as a result of heavy rigging, widespread rejection of declared results and loss of lives and property. The electoral law appears to be ill-equipped to address these concerns or challenges. The sections of the law to be reformed relate to the use of card readers for accreditation of voters, and electoral violence during elections, which had created gaps in the law, as manifested in the recent decisions of the Supreme Court regarding election petitions. Sadly the 2015 Electoral Law as amended, had endorsed card reader technology (signed by President Jonathan) to be used for 2015 general elections but the Supreme Court over-turned it in its judgment in the Rivers State governorship election petition. Despite many criticisms of this judgment, we need to go back to the National Assembly for complete law review.

On the high resurgence of violence, INEC does not have control over security agencies and it is clearly a serious challenge, especially as INEC suffered setbacks in Kogi State where its offices were burnt down in Adabi and Dekina, and also in Bayelsa and Rivers States with heavy loss of lives and property. We need reforms that would take care of security concerns or challenges. Secondly, politicians found culpable of electoral crimes should not only be banned from contesting elective positions but also be prosecuted and jailed. Indeed, Justice Uwais panel had recommended punitive measures against electoral offenders through the setting up of Electoral Offences Commission and Tribunal. 

Nigeria must begin to hold people accountable for crimes committed and punish perpetrators of electoral violence. Past elections were replete with various electoral offences, and in most cases, after reports of arrest of suspected offenders, there was hardly any information regarding prosecution and conviction. It is evident that none of them is ever taken to court, as they are simply let off the hook. Consequently, they found their way back to cause mayhem again each time we have elections. Secondly, some ad hoc and permanent staff of INEC were also involved in electoral malpractices and they go scot free because they were never apprehended let alone prosecuted at the court and jailed.

There is therefore the need for full implementation of Justice Uwais panel recommendations, calling for a new Commission to punish offenders. The panel’s report should be submitted to the National Assembly for quick passage. The beauty of this is that the specialty of these Commission and Tribunal is good for Nigeria’s legal system because the regular courts are already over-stretched with cases.

Electoral Offence Commission

This new agency will have responsibilities (by no means not limited to these):

(a) To monitor, investigate and prosecute (where there are infractions) sources of funding and campaign expenses to political parties and candidates

(b)  To monitor, investigate and prosecute all electoral malpractices such as monetary and material inducements to voters; rigging of elections (ballot snatching and stuffing); violence before, during and after elections; falsification of election results etc.

(c)  To prosecute all cases of electoral law abuses.

Tenure of Office and Financial Autonomy

Also, IAP in concert with other CSOs, Labour unions, Professional Associations like the NBA, Academics etc. will seek for legislative reforms for EFCC, ICPC, CCB and INEC. It has been identified that lack of tenure security (for heads of these organizations) and financial autonomy as well as constant political interference are some of the main causes of ineffectiveness of these institutions. Just like the CSOs fought for the passage of freedom of information bill, IAP and others, through this project, will promote reforms leading to the granting of financial autonomy to the EFCC, ICPC, CCB and INEC, at the National Assembly. We will seek for the amendment of section 153 of the 1999 Constitution to strengthen these and other similar institutions to make them have first charge on the Federation Account and other necessary guarantees by the 1999 Constitution.

In conclusion, IAP and OneVOICE coalition cannot do this job of seeking or demanding for reforms alone. It is a collective effort that every progressive Nigerian should be involved in its advocacy, mass mobilization, enlightenment, and mass action to achieve the overall REFORM AGENDA

I wish you all a happy and fruitful deliberation. 

Pastor Adedeji Adeleye

Executive Director, IAP and Chair, OneVoice Media Committee