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Lawyer Faults APC For Declaring N5Billion Revenue From Sale Of Nomination Forms, Others For 2023 Elections Despite ‘Generating Over N20Billion’
Emodamori questions the party’s ability to uphold Section 15 (5) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, which emphasizes accountability and transparency in governance.
Femi Emmanuel Emodamori, a Nigerian lawyer from Akure, Ondo State, is challenging the credibility of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to establish a transparent and accountable government.
This comes after the APC allegedly misrepresented its financial report, reporting N5,041,637,382 as its total income and N4,916,991,261.77 as its total expenditure for the 2023 General Elections in a certified true copies of the 2021 Audited Statements of Account of the parties and its 2023 Election Related Incomes and Expenditure submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Emodamori questions the party’s ability to uphold Section 15 (5) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, which emphasizes accountability and transparency in governance.
Electoral Body INEC In Ondo Disobeys Court Order For Five Months, Fails To Publish Political Parties’ Audited Accounts
Emodamori’s concerns highlight the importance of transparency in Nigeria’s political landscape.
In a statement made available to SaharaReporters on Sunday evening, titled: “Examining the Certified True Copies but Fraudulent Audited 2023 General Election Incomes and Expenditures of Selected Nigerian Political Parties; Tears for a Nation in Dire Need of Leaders with Integrity,” Emodamori disclosed that the electoral umpire on October 22, 2024, supplied to him the certified true copies of the 2021 Audited Statements of Account of the parties, and their 2023 Election Related Incomes and Expenditure.
He said this was in compliance with the judgment delivered by Hon. Justice T.B. Adegoke of the Akure Judicial Division of the Federal High Court on April 17, 2024, in Suit FHC/AK/CS/72/2023, which ordered INEC to publish and avail him the 2021 and 2022 Audited Financial Statements of all the registered political parties in Nigeria, as well as their separate audited 2023 election related incomes and expenses.
Emodamori, however, stated that the parties’ audited statements of account did not comply with the strict requirements of Section 89 of the Electoral Act, 2022.
He explained that INEC has deposed to and served him an affidavit that the parties had not submitted their 2022 Audited Statements of Account till date, blaming it on preparations for the 2023 General Elections.
“Most importantly, INEC admitted that none of the Audited 2023 Election Incomes and Expenditures submitted by the parties complied with the strict requirements of Section 89 of the Electoral Act, 2022, as a result of which she wrote each of the parties on 2nd September, 2024 to demand compliance within two weeks, including the statutory requirement for the parties to publish the Audited Accounts in at least two national newspapers.
“Cleary, however, the parties have all rebuffed INEC’s demands in the letters,” he said, adding that an analysis carried out on the Audited Statements of account shows that the “parties are really not better than one another in terms of transparency and accountability.
The activist emphasised that by virtue of Section 89 (1) of the Electoral Act, 2022, “election expenses” means “expenses incurred by a political party within the period from the date notice is given by the Commission to conduct an election up to and including the polling day in respect of that particular election.”
Regarding the ruling APC certified Audited Statements of account, Emodamori said the national leadership of APC declared declared N5,041,637,382.00 (about N5 billion) as its total income for the 2023 General Elections, out of which it declared a total expenditure of N4, 916,991,261.77 (about N4.9 billion).
He said, according to INEC documents, the APC failed to supply the breakdown of the incomes and/or contributions as stipulated by S.89 (8) of the Electoral Act, 2022.
“The Party also failed to publish the purported Audited 2023 General Election Incomes and Expenditures in at least 2 national newspapers as required by 89(6) of the Act,” he said.
Analyzing the APC purported Audited Statements of account, the lawyer recalled that “APC sold her Presidential Nomination Forms for N100M, Governorship Nomination Forms for N50M each, Senatorial Nomination Forms for N20M each, House of Representatives Nomination Forms for N10M each, and State House of Assembly Nomination Forms for N2m each. Governorship Elections were held in 28 States during the 2023 General Elections.
“We have 109 Senatorial Districts, 360 House of Representative constituencies, and 991 State Assembly constituencies. 23 presidential aspirants bought the APC Nominations Forms. The 24th and only female aspirant amongst them (Barr Uju Ken who had just been sacked as the Minister for Women Affairs) was said to have obtained the form free of charge, in line with the party’s policy of promoting gender parity in political participation.
“By a simple arithmetic, APC raked in N2.3b from the sale of her Presidential Nomination Forms alone. Let us assume only one person obtained the Senatorial Nomination Form in each of the 109 Senatorial Districts for N20M. That would be about N2.1B. N10M from just one aspirant in each of the 360 House of Representatives constituencies would be N3.6B, while N2M from one aspirant in each of the 991 State Assembly constituencies would be about N1.9B.
“An addition of the above sub-totals would give us a grand total of N9.9B. However, we all know that in almost all the States, there were at least two aspirants for the APC Governorship, Senatorial, House of Representatives and State Assembly primaries. In fact, there were up to 3 persons who contested APC primaries for most of the above constituencies.
“The logical deduction from the above analysis is that APC could not have raked in less than N20B from the sale of nomination forms alone for the 2023 General Elections. This amount excludes the usual donations by party big wigs, the aspirants themselves and ‘political investors’, the detailed records of which parties are statutorily obliged to keep, by virtue of Section 89(8) of the Electoral Act, 2022.”
He declared that based on the analysis of accruals from APC sale of nominations forms alone, “I have no doubt that the Party’s declaration of only about N5B as her total income for the 2023 General Elections, is totally fraudulent”.
He asked how a party making such “fraudulent claims” can form a transparent and accountable government, or enforce the provision of Section 15 (5) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) which states that “The Government shall abolish all corrupt practices and abuse of power”.
He asked, “Is INEC also competent and/or willing to hold the parties accountable in line with the Electoral Act, 2022, or actually aiding and abetting financial/electoral fraud by the political parties? I believe INEC has failed Nigerians and her international partners in this regard and must be held accountable for that.”
He promised to examine the accounts of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Labour Party (LP), New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) and the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in his subsequent publications.
