THE African Action Congress (AAC) has released the 2023 campaign expenses of its presidential candidate, Omoyele Sowore.
The National Publicity Secretary of the party, Femi Adeyeye, said in a statement that the party also released detailed sources of funding for the 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 said.
Sowore garnered a total of 14,608 in 2023 presidential election.
A breakdown of expenditure revealed that the party received a total of about N40 million for the campaigns, N38.3 million of which was donated to it while the party’s presidential candidate, Sowore contributed only N1.8 million.
The breakdown of spending compiled by the party 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.
From the candidate’s personal funding, however, the party used N1.5 million for conveyance; N200,000 to cover the cost of printing and N70,000 for maintenance.
Adeyeye said the party also gave the breakdown in 2019, shortly after the presidential election, claiming it is the first recorded in Nigeria’s electioneering history. The party therefore challenged the 17 other political parties that presented candidates during the election to present their expenses.
The party insisted that Nigeria cannot have a clean leadership recruitment process if politicians continue to shroud their campaign spending in secrecy.
“The campaign organisation also seizes this medium to challenge other presidential candidates including the one who was sworn in, to release their campaign financials, that’s if any books were kept at all,” Adeyeye said adding: “We believe that those who can’t keep books of campaign expenses and transparently account for the expenses incurred can’t run a country like Nigeria properly.”
Nigeria’s electoral law regulates the entire funding of political campaigns from the sources of the funds to the amount a party can spend during campaigns.
Going by Section 88 (2) of the Electoral Act (2022), a presidential candidate cannot spend beyond N5 billion on a campaign within the period stipulated for the campaign by the commission.
Meanwhile, spending by a candidate in governorship elections cannot exceed N1 billion. Senatorial and House of Representatives candidates should not exceed N100 million and N70 million in election expenses respectively, the Act states.
“In the case of State Assembly election, the maximum amount of election expenses to be incurred by a candidate shall not exceed N30,000,000. In the case of a chairmanship election to an Area Council, the maximum amount of election expenses to be incurred by a candidate shall not exceed N30,000,000. In the case of councillorship election to an Area Council, the maximum amount of election expenses to be incurred by a candidate shall not exceed N5,000,000,” the act reads.
Also, no individual can donate more than N50 million to any candidate, the act states in section 88 (8).
Section 85 of the Electoral Act also prohibits any political party from holding or possessing funds outside the country.
