With the judiciary already handling allegations by the present Federal Government that a huge portion of the funds for fighting insurgency was diverted by its predecessor, the subject is hardly ripe for comments by columnists who appreciate the rule of law. In the meantime however, there are a number of instructive statements in the public domain which we cannot ignore. A good example of such statements is the one credited to Dr. Peter Odili, a former governor of Rivers State.
According to media reports, the former governor admitted receiving N100million (not from any insurgency fund) but from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the contact and mobilization in the South-South for the 2015 elections. He also reportedly affirmed that he has never had any dealings with the embattled Sambo Dasuki the former National Security Adviser (NSA). Odili was reacting to the allegation that 6 persons namely Bode George ( South-West); Amb. Yerima Abdullahi (North-East); Peter Odili (South-South); Attahiru Bafarawa (North-East); Jim Nwobodo (South -East); North-Central (Ahmadu Ali) received from the office of the NSA, N600million. Nwobodo and George have since similarly denied the charge.
Until the judiciary pronounces on the subject, no one can say the denials are right or wrong; and this article as earlier hinted is not about who is guilty, rather we are interested in the other dimension of huge sums for electioneering in Nigeria. If only one political party spent N600million just for mobilisation, it becomes obvious that as Nigerians, we need to stand up against the politicisation of our nation. The point becomes more glaring when we add the other huge figures being peddled about in connection with publicity expenses for the same election.
Tunde Salman, the Director of Communications, Elections Observation Centre for the Centre for Policy Advocacy and Leadership Development (CPALD) in a recent study attempted to track Political Advertorials for the 2015 Presidential Electioneering Campaigns in Nigeria for the Print Media only. He reportedly found that the sum of N3, 835, 898, 475 was spent on only that component of election campaigns output. When disaggregated, the APC Presidential candidate and his support groups according to the study spent N724, 540, 609 while the PDP Presidential candidate and his support groups spent N3, 111, 357, 876 respectively meaning that PDP may have spent 4 times more than APC. The study also revealed that third party spending, particularly for the PDP candidate, contributed significantly to this expenditure subhead.
Considering the capital intensive nature of broadcasting, items such as jingles, documentaries and hate speeches which characterized the 2015 elections may have consumed unimaginable sums from which many persons seem to have benefitted. Even before the legally approved time for election, many support groups had spent huge sums. For example, although former President Goodluck Jonathan, for as long as two years to another election, supposedly pleaded severally not to be distracted from governance, a Pro-Jonathan group, Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria (TAN), went round the 6 geopolitical zones galvanising the people to persuade an ‘unwilling’ Jonathan to contest for a second term.
Nation-wide, TAN collected millions of ghost signatures in support of Jonathan. How much did TAN spend and from where did its leaders collect their own mobilisation funds? We need answers because except we trace the sources of money being spent by such third parties, we cannot put a halt to the trend whereby candidates at Nigerian elections design strategies of evading campaign finance rules and regulations.
Meanwhile, there are regulations fixing what can be spent during elections. In fact, the amended Electoral Act, 2010, makes elaborate provisions on financial guidelines for politicians and political parties. Section 91 of the Act for instance directs that the maximum election expenses to be incurred by a candidate in a presidential election should not exceed N1 billion. Similar ceilings are set for governorship elections at N200 million, while elections to the Senate and the House of Representatives are not to exceed N40 million and N20 million respectively. There is even the interesting rule that no one is allowed to make a donation above N1million, but this and all other regulations are constantly breached making it obvious that the nation, under money-bag leaders is unwilling to implement the law thereby tacitly empowering people with ill-gotten wealth to win elections
Those who have often asked why elections in Nigeria are ‘a do or die’ matter may have heard many times that it is because our political system is a winner takes all type. What people forget to add is that as a result, we do not hold elections, we merely purchase consciences. Those being purchased are not the unemployed as is often alleged; money bags many of whom retrieved such bags from the public treasury can buy and do buy any type of wealthy opinion leader. All those who imagine that an incumbent can hardly be defeated in a Nigerian election are merely alluding to the opportunity he has to use public funds to buy everyone just as he can use his office to favour supporters and harass opponents. For the journalist, it may be simple brown envelope but what traditional rulers get would be hard to imagine but different from place to place. In the sophisticated southwest, it could be dollars and plenty of it. In my State-Edo, noisy chiefs get Prado jeeps and become campaign managers in chieftaincy attires.
Again, incumbents are so power drunk that they can do and undo. If you speak the truth in office which is not exactly in favour of an incumbent, you may be as distinguished as General Martin Luther Agwai, you will get the boot. Indeed, even if you are a former Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces planning to contest a Presidential election, someone in the Army, your former constituency, will be made to issue spurious statements about your certificates. How Professor Attahiru Jega immediate past chairman of our electoral body managed to get out of it is one reason why this writer supports encomiums being poured on the man now. It is however hoped that the Dasuki probe will better position the nation to appreciate what our leaders do in office.
VANGUARD
END
Be the first to comment