The National Assembly has set a new amount a sponsor can donate to a party and how much a political party can spend on a candidate’s electioneering.
This was contained in the new Section 90 in the Electoral Act 2010 (Amendment) Bill presently before it.
The bill under review is to be transmitted to President Muhammadu Buhari’s assent anytime from now, the Independent National Electoral Commission is empowered to set ceilings for donations and expenses by donors, sponsors, candidate and political parties for electioneering under Section 90 titled, ‘Power to Limit Contribution to a Political Party’.
The new Section 90 of the Act reads, “(1) The commission shall have power to place limitations on the amount of money or other assets, which an individual can contribute to a political party or candidate, and demand such information on the amount donated and source of the funds.
“(2) Any individual, candidate or political party, who exceeds the limit placed by the commission in subsection (1), commits an offence and is liable on conviction to (a) in case of a political party, a fine not more than N10, 000,000.00 and forfeiture of the amount donated; and (b) in case of an individual, a fine of five times the amount donated in excess of the limit placed by the commission.”
The current Section 91 of the Electoral Act, 2010, titled, ‘Limitation on Election Expenses’, prescribes that the maximum election expenses to be incurred by a candidate in a presidential election shall be N1bn; governorship election, N200m; Senate and House of Representatives membership election seats, N40m and N20m, respectively; state House of Assembly membership election, N10m; chairmanship election for a local government area or area council, N10m; and councillorship election in an LGA or area council, N1m.
However, the National Assembly has raised the figures by about 500 percent, especially for the presidential election.
Clause 91 of the new electoral bill reads, “(1) Election expenses shall not exceed the sum stipulated in subsections (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) and (7).
“(2) The maximum election expenses to be incurred by a candidate at a presidential election shall not exceed N5, 000,000,000.00.
“(3) The maximum amount of election expenses to be incurred by a candidate in respect of the governorship election shall not exceed N1, 000,000,000.00.
“(4) The maximum amount of election expenses to be incurred by a candidate in respect of senatorial and House of Representatives seats shall not exceed N100, 000,000.00 and N70, 000,000.00 respectively.”
“(5) In the case of the state Assembly election, the maximum amount of election expenses to be incurred by a candidate shall not exceed N30, 000,000.00.
“(6) 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, 000,000.00.
“(7) 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, 000,000.00.”
