As the countdown to the kick-off of electioneering campaigns begins, it appears that the three leading political parties and their presidential candidates have deployed intrigue as a tool to outdo one another. The parties are the All Progressives Congress (APC), the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Labour Party (LP). They are cleverly monitoring the activities of each other and instead of concentrating on their campaign plans, they have been engaging in mudslinging, which sadly has no bearing on the lives of the ordinary Nigerians that they are seeking to govern.
In one such attempt to malign a rival party’s presidential candidate, a few days ago a group acting under the auspices of the Tinubu-Shettima Connect accused Peter Obi and the Labour Party of violating the provisions of the Electoral Act by engaging in the raising of funds from abroad through unknown sources, warning that there is a dire consequence for such action.
The group called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to without delay, stop Obi and his running mate, Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, from contesting the 2023 presidential election.
The group also threatened to commence legal action against Obi, his running mate and INEC, as well as to prevent Labour Party from participating in the 2023 presidential election for engaging in activities that contravene the Electoral Act 2022.
In a statement signed by its convener, Adebanjo Moyosore, the group said it was illegal to raise campaign funds outside Nigeria through unknown sources or unidentified groups.
This development came on the heels of the inauguration of an 11-man Diaspora Committee to organise fund-raising activities, among others, by the National Chairman of Labour Party, Julius Abure, at the national headquarters of the party in Abuja penultimate week.
The Inauguration also came a day after the party’s Diaspora support groups pledged to crowdfund $150m and N100bn for Obi’s campaign.
Moyosore said the inauguration of a Diaspora committee by the leadership of Labour Party to gather campaign funds from Nigerians in Diaspora for Obi’s presidential campaign was not only illegal but also criminal.
He said it was “a matter of great public concern as the country has moved from its old practice with INEC trying to put perfection to the electoral process, unfortunately a few individuals who think they can get away with deliberate act to undermine the electoral law of the land, have already started making sinister moves even when the campaigns are yet to begin in earnest.
“Section 85 of the Electoral Act has clearly explained this. Also, Section 85 (a) (b) provides that any political party that:
“(a) holds or possesses any fund outside Nigeria in contravention of section 225 (3) (a) of the Constitution, commits an offence, and shall on conviction forfeit the funds or assets purchased with such funds to the Commission and in addition may be liable to a fine of at least N5,000,000; or “(b) retains any fund or other asset remitted to it from outside Nigeria in contravention of section 225 (3) (a) of the Constitution commits an offence and shall on conviction forfeit the funds or assets to the Commission and in addition may be liable to a fine of at least N5,000,000.”
Also, citing a provision of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), Adebanjo said the law forbids possession of funds by the candidate or political party from overseas.
He said: “Section 225 (2) (3) (4) (a) (b) & (5) of the Constitution provides that:
“225(2) Every political party shall submit to the Independent National Electoral Commission a detailed annual statement and analysis of its sources of funds and other assets together with a similar statement of its expenditure in such form as the Commission may require.
“225(3) No political party shall –
“(a) hold or possess any funds or other assets outside Nigeria; or
“(b) be entitled to retain any funds or assets remitted or sent to it from outside Nigeria.
” 225(4) Any funds or other assets remitted or sent to a political party from outside Nigeria shall be paid over or transferred to the Commission within twenty-one days of its receipt with such information as the Commission may require.”
He noted that the development was worrisome, especially at a time like this when the country’s anti-graft agencies were battling with money laundering from criminal syndicates and traffickers.
It would also be recalled that the National Chairman of the Labour Party (LP), Barrister Julius Abure, while inaugurating an 11-man committee to steer its Diaspora activities to be able to harness the political fortunes of the Nigerians in Diaspora for the Labour Party, said the committee would among other things source funding to prosecute the 2023 presidential target of the Labour Party and its candidate, Mr. Peter Obi
Abure mandated the committee to ensure it was accountable to Nigerians as he said the candidate they are projecting for the number one job in Nigeria has inspired a movement of Nigerians who want to take their country back and accountability remained the watchword.
Meanwhile, the LP Presidential Candidate, Peter Obi has responded to the accusations made by the APC chieftain, Okoi Ofem Obono-Obla, who claimed he was organising a Diaspora group to raise funds from Nigerians living abroad for election campaigns, saying his recent trip abroad was not a fund raising mission but a trip to sensitise and carry along Nigerians aboard on his upcoming agenda of rebuilding the country.
A statement issued by his media office said, “The Obi-Datti Media Office attention has been drawn to the desolate and baseless allegation by a support group of Tinubu-Shettima calling on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to disqualify the presidential candidate of Labour Party (LP), Mr. Peter Obi and his running mate, Ahmed Baba Datti, from the 2023 presidential election for allegedly violating a section of Electoral Act on Election funding.
“All of a sudden, the structure-less and social media candidates are now the headache of the ruling party that they now had to fabricate and imagine things they want the electoral Commission to act on.
“Obi’s successful trip abroad which is ostensibly to sensitise and carry along Nigerians aboard on his upcoming agenda of rebuilding the country is open and transparent and not a fund raising. But we know why it’s discomforting (to) some people, because they cannot meet Nigerians in Diaspora knowing that they contributed to their leaving the country in the first place.
“We have always said it umpteenth times that their own understanding of structure is the abundance of looted funds in their kitty that they plan to deploy on hungry Nigerian voters during the election to sway their votes.
“They know nobody has the kind of stolen funds they have and are always uncomfortable at anything suggesting to them that their opponents could match them. Obi did not go to beg for money but to sell himself and his mission to Nigerians outside the shores who are critical stakeholders in the Nigeria project.
“Since June 2022 that they deployed a lump of their loots to get the tickets of their party, the nation’s currency crashed and still battling for breath. And since then they have been mopping up foreign currencies ahead of the election to buy voters.
“The Media office, therefore, needs to educate them that Obi and his running mate is knowledgeable duo who know the law and operate within it and who became what they are financially, politically and socially doing legitimate businesses. They have no bullion van history of questionable wealth and are ready and willing to be scrutinised.
“Just as Obi and Datti’s backgrounds and antecedents are verifiable, so also are their sources of income before and now are unambiguous and auditable.
“Obi and Datti reached where they are today in this 2023 journey giving no ‘shishi’ to anybody, because they are investing in the suffering Nigerians impoverished by the greedy leaders of the past who diverted public funds to their private and family pockets.
“We understand their predicament, the dearth of contents from their principal, the lack of what to market, using the ample opportunity provided by the campaigns and the resort to searching blindly for reasons to disqualify the people’s only hope for a new and better Nigeria.
“Suddenly, they are beginning to realise that the social media giant, the structure-less and inconsequential candidates, are in the heart of the people who are convinced by their pragmatic messages. In frustration and envy they are now desperately looking for all crooked ways to stop them.
Also a leading member of Labour Party, Professor Pat Utomi stated that Obi had yet to receive any donation toward his election bid but noted that “when the time is right, the Diaspora will give money.”
“They (Nigerians in the Diaspora) have always given money to campaigns. I have run for president before, I got support from the Diaspora in 2007 and then in 2011. When the time is a portal through which Nigerians can donate money to Obi’s campaign organization is being set up.
“These portals are not up yet. They will be up next week or so and eventually we are going to be able to access resources from the Diaspora for sure. But right now, we are on sensitization tour about what makes democracy work. Right now, Nigeria’s democracy is not working because of the transaction costs that are involved,” he said.
“All we are saying is that we are going to have a portal and every Nigerian can go in and make their contributions. What can be more democratic than that? If there is a law that opposes that, that law is fundamentally flawed…that law does not deserve the name of law,” .
Speaking further, Utomi denied Obi’s involvement in the alleged imposing of charges on Nigerians who attended the Diaspora meetings with him.
“We have been invited to events; we don’t know what the mechanics are. In America the tradition is different (when) some people give breakfast or dinner; they may charge people to come to eat. But we’ve not been associated with anything, we just get invited by Nigerian groups and we attend,” Utomi said
The Legal/ Political Implications
A lot of legal interpretations have been made by legal practitioners to the provision of “Section 225 (2) (3) (4) (a) (b) & (5) of the 1999 Constitution which provides that no political party shall hold or possess any funds or other assets outside Nigeria; or “(b) be entitled to retain any funds or assets remitted or sent to it from outside Nigeria.
Many of the lawyers who spoke on the allegations against Obi said the party and not the candidates are bind from receiving foreign donation for campaign. One of such lawyers who shared this position is the Human rights lawyer and principal of Festus Ogun Legal Firm.
Festus Ogun in a statement noted that donations by Nigerians in the Diaspora for the presidential candidate of Labour Party, Peter Obi, do not violate any law in Nigeria.
Ogun stated that the donations made by support groups for any candidate’s campaign did not violate the Electoral laws or any other law in Nigeria.
The statement titled, ‘Diaspora Donation to Peter Obi Campaign Violates No Law In Nigeria (1)’ read, “Following the pledge of a Diaspora Support Group to crowdfund $150m for Peter Obi’s campaign, concerns are raised in some quarters over the legality and constitutionality of Diaspora donations made in respect of Mr. Peter Obi’s Campaign.
“In fact, some groups reportedly called on the Independent National Electoral Commission to ‘without delay’, disqualify Mr. Peter Obi, the Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party, from the 2023 Presidential race.
“To be clear, donations made by concerned citizens and support groups (either in Nigeria or in the Diaspora) to Peter Obi and his Campaign Team are not in violation of any living law in Nigeria.
“Those who hold otherwise rely largely on Section 225(3)(a)(b) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as altered) and Section 85 of the Electoral Act, 2022. With greatest respect, these provisions of law are generally inapplicable to this instant case, and those who rely on them to demand from INEC the disqualification of Mr. Peter Obi, which is itself laughable, are either mischievous or misconceived.
“Section 225(3)(a)(b) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as altered) provides that: ‘No political party shall hold or possess any funds or other assets outside Nigeria; or (b.) be entitled to retain any funds or assets remitted or sent to it from outside Nigeria’.”
“A careful consideration of the sections of law reproduced above shows that the 1999 Constitution simply prohibits a POLITICAL PARTY from holding or possessing any funds or other assets outside Nigeria and from retaining any funds or assets remitted or sent to it from outside Nigeria. The Electoral Act, by virtue of Section 85, only complements the constitutional provision by prescribing punishment for its breach.” Ogun further explained.
He added, “Having cleared that, it is safe to say that donations made to Mr. Peter Obi or his Campaign Organization in furtherance of his Presidential Campaign cannot be said to be made to a Political Party as envisaged under 225(3)(a)(b) of the 1999 Constitution. Neither Mr. Peter Obi nor his campaign Organisation is a ‘political party’ and must not be mistaken or confused for Labour Party, a duly registered political party under the law. It would have been a different ball game entirely if the donations were made to Labour Party as a political party.
“Donations made to political candidates or their campaign teams are not caught under 225(3)(a)(b) of the 1999 Constitution and Section 85 of the Electoral Act and are therefore not illegal and unconstitutional.”
Also speaking with THEWILL, the National Coordinator of Democracy Vanguard, Mr Adeola Soetan said “I don’t think any law is broken when candidates raise fund from Nigerians abroad since the law only forbids political parties not candidates or their various voluntary campaign organizations.
“I have read and listened to opinions of many prominent and erudite lawyers and that their position too backed by relevant sections of the constitution and the electoral laws.
“I want to believe that was why Candidates Buhari, Sowore did same at one time or the other. Accountability of foreign and local funds raised to INEC, their parties and the funders is key and not to spend beyond the limit or raised from dangerous sources is very important too.
“But personally, I think the political parties as sponsoring authorities of candidates should be the overall accounting officer of candidates since we don’t have independent candidates yet in the country because what affects the candidate affects his party too one way or the other. So we may start looking forward to the nation’s constitution amendment in that regard.
“At any rate I still prefer candidates and parties raising funds instead of looting their states resources to campaign thereby pauperising their fellow citizens the more”.
But many political analysts, who spoke to THEWILL, disagree with the position of the lawyers who try to legally separate the candidates from the parties they are representing in an election.
Paul Ojo, a Political analyst based in Abuja, said it will be very difficult to separate the candidate from the party.
“In this instance, if Obi collects donation from abroad, can we say Obi is different from the Labour Party on which platform he is contesting election? On Election Day, it is LP symbol that appears on ballot paper, Obi’s name doesn’t appear. So I believe it will be difficult to say Obi can receive foreign donation for an election he is contesting and that will not affect the Labour Party. We don’t have independent candidacy yet in the country’s election, so to me party and its candidate are one and are inseparable”.
This position was also shared by a member of the Campaign for Democracy, Comrade Sola Olawale.
Olawale told THEWILL that Peter Obi should refrain from such donations from abroad to avoid being caught on the wrong side of the law.
“Many politicians have been collecting foreign donations for their campaigns but they did it underground without making any noise about it. You don’t do such action openly. I think that is where the Labour Party got it wrong by setting up committee on Diaspora funding.
“On some lawyers who are arguing that only the political parties that are bind by the constitution from receiving foreign donation and that candidates are free to collect foreign donation for elections, I am not a lawyer but I think it will be difficult to separate party and candidate in an election. Party produces the candidate and the candidate run on the platform of the party. That is my position,”Olawale said.
Efforts to get the position of the INEC on the issue proved abortive as the National Commissioner on Voter Education and Publicity, Barrister Festus Okoye did not pick his call after several attempts. He also refused to answer questions sent to his Whatsapp line. In the same manner, Mr Rotimi Oyekanmi who is the Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, Professor Yakubu Mahmood refused to pick his call.
About the Author
AYO ESAN, has been actively reporting and analyzing political events for different newspapers for over 18 years. He has also successfully covered national and state elections in Nigeria since the inception of this democracy in 1999.
