APC, PDP deny spending N2.9b, N8.7b each for presidential election
THE ruling All progressive congress
(APC) yesterday faulted the notion that it
spent beyond the N1 billion campaign
limit stipulated by the Independent
National Electoral Commission (INEC) .
The Deputy National Publicity Secretary
of the party, Mr Timi Frank who spoke to
The Guardian particularly remarked that
there was no iota of truth in a recent
findings on monitoring of campaign
finance and use of state resources in the
2015 Presidential Election in Nigeria
carried out by the Centre for Social
Justice [CSJ)
In a related development, the PDP had
also rejected the reports alleging that the
APC might have made inputs into the
report and challenged CSJ the authors, to
show proof that it was authentic and
reliable.
The CSJ had alleged that the People
Democratic Party (PDP)and the [APC]
jointly spent almost N12 billion in the
elections.
It noted that while the PDP spent N8.7
billion or 82 percent , the APC spent N2.9
billion representing 20 percent of the
total amount at the campaigns.
However, Frank who remarked that it is
public knowledge how the APC sourced
it’s funds to prosecute the campaigns
said it behooves on the CJS to make
public how the APC voilated INEC rule on
the N1 billion spending limits during the
campaign for the 2015 poll.
According to him: “Well I don’t know
how they got that figure that we spent
more than that. If they have any
evidence that we spent more than that,
they should make it available. We don’t
want to join any issue with any
organisation because this is not the time
for that. We know how we raised money
for the last election.
“Nigerians know how we raised money
for the election. We sold recharge cards
to Nigerians who believe in our ideals
and Nigerians bought a lot of these cards
of as high as N1000 per card and it was
public knowledge that we used such
means to raise money for our campaign.
We are not like the PDP which collect
money from government machinery and
those who benefited from their
government.”
Responding to inquiries from The
Guardian, PDP’s National Publicity
Secretary, Olisa Metuh had said: “The
figure is very subjective because the
authors could not show how they arrived
at what they published. And I do not
know how they arrived at the figure
unless they got it from the APC. The
authors of the figure should show proof
that it is genuine.”
“Furthermore, as the spokesman of the
PDP, I cannot talk on the presidential
campaign funds because I was not
directly involved in the management of
campaigns funds at that time.”
Lead Director of CSJ, Eze Onyekpere had
at a media briefing in Abuja last week
added: ‘’Empirical evidence
demonstrates that the ceiling of N1
billion was unrealistic and could not
fund a winning presidential campaign,
taking into consideration the expenses
on advertisements in the media, print
and electronic, bill boards, hiring of staff
and equipment, transport and cost of
campaigns, just to mention a few.”
CSJ however, faulted the ceiling as it
could not be justified considering the
land mass of Nigeria and the fact that
gubernatorial candidates are entitled to
spend one fifth of the sum allowed for
presidential candidates who cover 36
states of the federation.
To address some of the challenges, CSJ,
recommended among others, “the ceiling
of N1 billion for candidates in a
presidential election be upwardly
reviewed to N5 billion.
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