Mr Sowore's party, AAC, said it received N40 million from donations to prosecute the 2023 presidential election.
The candidate of 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 its 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.
During the 2023 presidential election won by Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), the flagbearer of the ACC garnered 14,608 votes.
Funds
According to the breakdown of spending, 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, Mr 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.
Mr 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.
AAC challenges other parties
The party also challenged the 17 other political parties that presented candidates during the election to present their expenses.
The AAC insisted that Nigeria cannot have a clean leadership recruitment process if politicians continue to shroud their campaign spending in secrecy.
He said: "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."
"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."
What the law says about campaign funding
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.
See copy of campaign expenses here
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.
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
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.
Violations
PREMIUM TIMES had reported last year that on different occasions, political parties violate the requirements of the Act both in campaign expenses and submission of financial reports to the INEC.
For instance, in a review of the 2019 general elections with political parties, INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, disclosed that "only one presidential candidate has submitted a financial expenses report," three months after the election.
Qosim Suleiman is a reporter at Premium Times in partnership with Report for the World, which matches local newsrooms with talented emerging journalists to report on under-covered issues around the globe
