The two major political parties, governing All Progressives Congress (APC) and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are in a financial bind, which has stymied their activities ahead of 2019, CHIBUZO UKAIBE and KINGSLEY OPURUM,
The economic downturn in the country has caused both the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the main opposition party, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to suffer constraints in their operations. But is there more to this scenario as political schemings and simmering tussles ahead of 2019 appear to be a major factor?
For APC, the level of financial difficulties confronting the governing party was underscored by the suspension of the constitutional review committee headed by the National Legal Adviser, Muiz Banire.
It was gathered that the party could not fund the activities of the constitutional review committee which had submitted its budget to the Chairman of APC, John Odigie-Oyegun.
Also, the poor financial state of the ruling party was also manifest in struggles to offset monthly wage bills of its staff, which sparked subtle protests. The secretariat had in 2016, suffered power cuts because of it could not service its N1.7m debt owed to the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC).
But Odigie-Oyegun, while speaking on the party finances, was quoted to have said “We have had difficulties in paying salaries once or twice. That is normal in the situation we are in. People are missing the point. The Buhari administration will not touch one kobo of government funds for political purposes.
“So, the party, like any other institution, will have to raise funds. Occasionally, we don’t get all the funds that we require to meet all our commitments, but things are improving on a daily basis and very soon, all these would be of the past.”
Similarly, PDP was reported to be financially stressed and could not fully meet up with its financial obligations, especially the payment of its staff. The situation became so bad that staff size had to be cut even as the retained staff were made to take measurable pay cuts.
However while the Ahmed Makarfi-led PDP, has denied that that the party is insolvent, they admitted that payment of staff salary has been a challenge.
Spokesman of the Makarfi-led PDP, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, had on several occasion lamented that they have not been enjoying the kind of financial support they used to enjoy. He had complained that unlike before, the party has been stretched in its bid to maintain its offices and carry out its responsibilities.
It was also speculated at the time that Sen Ali Modu Sheriff was drafted to become the national chairman of the party because of his financial might, which would be needed to assist in administering the party’s affairs. However, with the crisis that erupted sooner than he emerged national chairman, the party has had to wallow in deeper financial trouble as experienced by the staff of the party.
Some political watchers have expressed dismay over the financial status of APC, believing that as a ruling party, there should be no reason for it be experiencing such financial challenge since it has a President who controls the nation’s treasury just like the PDP did. The scenario is even more interesting considering that the party controls about 23 states.
Whereas, other political watchers, in commending President Muhammadu Buhari, believe that the financial distress facing APC is a clear indication of Mr. President’s unbridled penchant for financial prudence and accountability.
These divergent views are predicated on how the then ruling party (PDP) which swam in financial abundance for 16 years of its reign, transformed into the largest party in Africa.
The PDP-led government had allegedly funded most of its operation with the Nigerian tax payers’ money, unlike the present administration led by PresidentBuhari, who has vehemently refused to follow suit.
More so, unlike the PDP, APC governors, it was gathered have not been making huge donations. Party governors and other elected party officials reportedly made huge donations to their parties in the past.
Some other political commentators also wonder why of the APC would have to suffer such financial constraints going by the number of money bags in its fold. These analysts aver that these money bags may be disaffected and disenchanted with events in the party, which may have tactically sidelined them.
Challenges in party financing
If not funded by the government, political parties are expected to generate funds from party members and individual supporters (via membership fees/ dues/ subscriptions and/ or small donations); from wealthy people and/ or the business community as corporate donations and foreign aid.
According to Wikipedia, international donors provide financing to political parties in developing countries as a means to promote democracy and good governance. Support can be purely financial or otherwise. Frequently it is provided as capacity development activities including the development of party manifestos, party constitutions and campaigning skills.
In Nigeria, the issue of party funding has for long posed a serious concern to watchers of our political scene. In the First and Second Republics, it was an issue that was hotly debated in the National Assembly.
It was the apprehension of allowing the so called mega moneybags to put political parties in their pockets that led the regime of Ibrahim Babangida in the 90s to make government partly responsible for political party funding.
This measure was adopted in 1999 where parties were partially funded by government through the electoral body. While the abuse of funds by political parties caused a cessation of this process, those who campaigned for government’s continued funding of parties argued that it was a ploy to kill the opposition, noting that smaller parties would not have as much access to state funds through which ruling parties were funded.
The 2008 Uwais Panel report recommended the continued funding of political parties by government through the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), but suggested a ceiling for individual donations for each category of office. These figures ran from a limit of N20 million for individual donations for a presidential candidate to N15 million for a governor, N10 million for a senator, N3 million for a local government chairmanship candidate.
The Uwais panel report also recommended that only parties that score 2.5 percent of the votes in the 2011 elections should be eligible to receive funds from public grants.
When the call for INEC to again begin to fund political parties intensified in 2014, the then commission’s umpire, Attahiru Jega, said that INEC could not fund the registered political parties in Nigeria due to constitutional constraints.
“Until the National Assembly amends Nigerian constitution to allow for funding of political parties, the commission cannot do anything about funding political parties, and the commission would continue to abide by the provisions of the constitution,” he said.
Nevertheless, the 2015 general poll was adjudged the costliest in the history of Nigeria, with a ‘core cost’ of $547 million, while political parties and their candidates spent between $1.5 billion and $2 billion.
According to the Westminster Foundation for Democracy, PDP spent N8.74bn, while all the opposition parties put together spent N2.91bn in 2015.
INEC and burden of monitoring party finances
As enshrined in the constitution, INEC has the statutory obligation of monitoring campaign expenditure of political parties.
In 2014, The Chief Press Secretary to Prof. Jega, Kayode Idowu,Mr. Idowu said that the commission had established a department to monitor spending of candidates in the 2015 elections and beyond.
He said, “That structure did not exist in 2011 and we could not do much in that regard. Now we have been able to put structures in place to track expenditure and we are going to be doing that.
“The situation now is that we can only know whether a person has over spent until he or she has spent it. You cannot stop people from spending until the person has spent. What the law anticipates is that we have put ceiling on spending and we will now monitor to know whether we can make a case about it.
“According to section 91 of the Electoral Act, 2010 as amended, the maximum expenses to be incurred by a candidate at a presidential election shall be N1 billion; for governorship, it is N200 million.
“The act also placed a campaign ceiling of N40 million and N20 million for senatorial and House of Representatives candidates respectively.
“It also fixed amount for election expenses in the state assembly and chairmanship election for an area council at N10 million.’’
“The sanction for presidential election is N1 million or 12 months imprisonment or both and for governor, N800, 000 or nine months or both.
“While the sum of N600,000 or six months imprisonment is stipulated for a senatorial candidate, the sum of 500,000 or five months imprisonment is also stipulated for a House of Representatives candidate who defaults on the campaign spending.’’ But there were no recorded sanctions or prosecutions.”
The electoral commission however didn’t indict any party or individual for breaching these provisions.
Also, Prof Mahmood Yakubu-led INEC has reiterated its commitment to the monitoring of party finances with a view to circumventing a replication of 2015 scenario.
According to the commission’s new strategic plan spanning five years, precisely between 2017 and 2021, part of its core objectives as regards to monitoring activities of political parties includes forging partnership with some stakeholders to ensure due diligence in selection of party candidates.
In accordance to the Electoral Act, three financial reports namely annual report, election donations report and election expenses report are expected to be submitted to INEC by political parties in the country.
INEC’s Political Party Finance book states that the essence of this monitoring is “to check unrestricted use of money in politics and in turn avoid a situation where a few rich individuals hijack a party for their own personal interests which can create instability within the political system”.
It remains it be seen whether this will yield much difference. With a culture of opacity that reigns in political parties financing, the electoral commission would require all the expertise it can muster to make a major headway in tackling this challenge.
Conclusion
It remains to be seen whether the 2019 general election will experience low-key campaigns and spending going by the state of the economy. It is also believed that the financial discipline shown by the President Buhari administration in party funding, will make it extremely difficult for political parties to fritter away money during their campaigns, as was experienced in 2015 polls, which has resulted in ongoing high profile corruption cases.
For some analysts, notwithstanding the financial strait in the country, the race for 2019, will inevitably cause an increase in financial activities in parties. As long as individual candidacy are not permissible under the law, aspirants must patronize political parties which remain the only vehicle to assumed political elective offices.
“Are you telling me that those persons that have political ambition, from presidency to local government chairmen, would not bring out money to campaign?,” Mike Obiekwe, a political commentator asked.
He added “the notion out there is that most of the monies were mopped up from the system and are stashed in places pending the next election cycle which is almost here. So I have no doubt that very soon we will see some of these monies getting into parties because as of today only parties produce candidates for elections.”
However outlining procedures on how to finance their party, Odigie-Oyegun said “A governor can donate from his own personal resources and this is the Muhammadu Buhari administration. We have just come out from a disastrous Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) administration in which government became an Automated Teller Machine (ATM), a situation, whereby government funds were diverted for politics.
“That will not happen under this administration. So, the party therefore has to be innovative in raising its own funds. We now get regular contributions government or political appointees.
“We also get from the Senate and House of Representatives and we have concluded an online arrangement to get from the generality of membership all over the country. Every member will now have to pay the sum of N100 per month as a member. And if at the end of one year, there are members who do not pay at all; then they are automatically delisted.
“For any member of the party to be qualified to vote or be voted for, you must have valid membership credentials, which includes paid up membership. So, the party is set and running.
“It has taken time to finetune, particularly the membership drive nationwide and we have to take the educational level in the rural areas into consideration and of course, since it is a low level of cash but cumulatively amounting into a lot of money, we have to design a system that is fool proof as possible.
“That is being rolled out in another month and then the party would be relatively better off. But, of course, this does not obviate the need for well-off members to also help the party when major events are coming up.”