Ahead of the 2019 general election, leaderships of some political parties have lamented their financial status and the disadvantaged position this may place them in the race. They also urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to reconsider the stoppage of the grant hitherto given to political parties.
Out of the 68 political parties registered by INEC, only a few are said to possess the financial backbone to successfully prosecute elections.
BDSUNDAY checks show that the poor financial status of some of the parties has constituted a huge impediment, derailing their focus and putting them at political disadvantage despite their official registration by INEC.
Party leaders share their experiences
Speaking with BDSUNDAY on the challenge being faced by his party on financial score, Tanko Yunusa, national chairman of the National Conscience Party (NCP), said, “It has been a very difficult challenge for us in NCP I must say and I believe it is the same with all the other political parties. According to our constitution, we can generate support from membership dues and also the constitution gives us the power to do bye laws with regards to how we can generate funds. So what we end up doing is to expect some new comers in the party to help in off-setting some of the expenses that we have already made over the years. As the case may be, these ones can be waived by the party’s national executive council depending on the negotiation that is being done by whoever is coming in the party.
“So, we expect that as we go into the 2019 election some of the new people who are joining us will contribute to the development of the party, financially. Although some of our core supporters who have sympathetic views towards the ideological leaning of our party sometimes donate to the party but it is not enough. That is why we are trying to enforce the membership dues for all members and that has been a very difficult challenge to us. Some of the political parties that are in power enjoy enormous fund from money generated in a system where they have governors, state Assembly and National Assembly members and president. They donate heavily at the expense of the other parties.
“Therefore, we are asking for technical funding through INEC from the federal account so that the money will be given to political parties so that at least, they can pay of salaries of their workers, do publicity, mobilisation and sensitisation of the electorate as to what to do. This will help the existing democratic systems.”
According to Yunusa, “the last time INEC gave political parties money was in 2006 and at that time 6 million was given to political parties and INEC still audits accounts of our parties regularly even if they don’t give us money.”
National Chairman of Better Nigeria Progressive Party (BNPP) Godswill Iheanyichukwu Nnaji, a professor, lamented that the government is not providing the funding but sounded optimistic that whatever be the case, his party would strive to stay afloat.
“We will do anything possible that is legal to generate funding. You should ask the government why they are not funding, don’t ask me how,” Nnaji said.
According to him, “Politics is a very expensive game but if they want only one party system so be it but we shall challenge it. Don’t forget that it is the smaller political parties that give relevance to this democracy, and ignoring them is at the peril of the nation. We shall emerge big or small. What you should tell the public as media is to de-emphasise money, to work and possibly contribute, not necessarily money, but ideas.”
Godson Okoye, national chairman of the United Democratic Party (UDP) in his reaction told BDSUNDAY that the challenge is that “there is no money and we fund the party ourselves as members because we don’t get funding from government but we are trudging on,” he said.
Why funding was scrapped
Party funding has been a big and knotty issue in the country. In the First and Second Republics, it was hotly debated in the state parliaments and the National Assembly.
During the military era, the fear of allowing the moneybags to “put political parties in their pockets” led the regime of Ibrahim Babangida in the ‘90s to make government partly responsible for their funding.
This funding of political parties by the Nigerian government continued after the return of the country to civil rule in 1999.
But the concern about the number of parties in the country, the frivolous duplication of political parties and abuse of funds led to the clamour for the government to suspend funding of the parties.
Explaining why government stopped the funding, Matthew Ahuwa, a political affairs commentator, said: “You know everything Nigerian is always different. People abuse things so much in Nigeria. Party funding by government was well-conceived to assist smaller ones and to shield them from the domination of the bigger ones; but as time went on people began to abuse the process. You see a few people gather and come up with a name but their sole aim is to collect the money from government. It suddenly became a racket. It was discovered that those who had no business with politics were registering parties. And as soon as they collect the money, they would disappear to reemerge when it is time for another release. This was why the PDP government decided to review the law and changed it such that parties would now source funding themselves.”
Ahuwa, who also is a political economist, however, pointed out that the decision of government to stop the financial assistance may have given one or two parties an undue advantage, which according to him is not good for democracy.
“As you would agree with me, every policy has its other side, no matter how good the intention may be. Nigeria presently has sixty eight parties; apart from the PDP, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and to some extent the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) because of its showing in Anambra, all others are what we may call ‘portfolio” parties. Most of them are largely unknown and have little or no means of funding which often makes them to consider the merger option whenever election knocks,” he said.
INEC faults parties’ lack of transparency in financials
Yakubu Mahmood, a professor and chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), recently raised concern over the transparency of parties in matters of their funding and expenditure, urging them to comply with relevant provisions of the law.
“Lack of transparency in the funding and expenditures of political parties and campaign expenses, absence of formal internal mechanisms for mediation and dispute resolution are also involved. It includes limited and deliberate compliance with relevant provision of party constitutions, the Electoral Act and other regulations guiding political party activities,” Mahmood said.
Monetisation of politics
Political scientist at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Eme Okechukwu, lamented the monetisation of the political system in the country, blaming it for the increased corruption among public office holders.
“It is worth accepting the fact that elections cost money. Democracy costs money. Campaigns cost money. Anyone who knows anything about the way politics is done in Nigeria knows the huge cost of a campaign for public office. This cost is so high that it is prohibitive to all but the richest men, or those who have rich benefactors, or those who have their hands in public funds.
“The figures are truly shocking. In the PDP, for example, to pick a nomination form for the State House of Assembly, you must part with a princely sum of N1m. Yes, N1m, for a form. If you wanted to be a House of Representatives candidate, you part with N2.5 million. For the Senate, N3million; governorship, N5million, and for the Presidency, it is N10million. This is not counting other fees like the ‘expression of interest’, ‘formalisation of intent’, administrative charges, and all such levies which combine to make elections a game for the highest bidder. It can therefore, not be surprising that after being elected, a public official’s first port of call is to recoup all the investments made in his campaign, replenishing both his own funds, and those of his benefactors.”
However, the Lagos State chairman of the Advance Democratic Congress (ADC), Babatunde Lawal, said the party survives through donations from leaders and other stakeholders,but lamented that several of the smaller parties in the country could not execute their programmes because of their poor financial base.
“What is happening is that a lot of us have to go and solicit from people. For some of us, our members also give us money but you know the level of poverty in the society; how many people can afford to pay their dues,” Lawal said.
“It is not only our party; it is the same with all other smaller parties; we are all having financial problem. For example, we are looking for money to hold our state congress here in Lagos. May be, except for the APC, PDP and APGA and perhaps, SDP that have the structure and influential Nigerians who fund them.
“INEC should review this policy; I think the National Assembly is the one to amend the constitution first, there can be checks, mechanism should be put in place to monitor how the money is being used and the way the parties are operating,” Lawal further said.
However, the Lagos State Chairman of the Democratic Action Congress (DAC), Uduak Archibong, lamented the winner-takes-all politics in the country, adding that his party is being funded by him and a few other chieftains.
“We fund the party through our money, the leaders; if you wait for money from members you may not achieve anything. But the problem in the country is the winner-takes-all politics which often leaves us the smaller parties handicapped,” Archibong.
Voters’ increasing demands
Remi Sonaiya, a professor of French Language and Applied Linguistics, and former presidential aspirant on KOWA Party platform, said that many Nigerians see elections as avenue to make money as they openly demand money from aspirants and candidates.
“Politicians bribe the electorate, giving them handouts to cast their votes for them. Many voters in Nigeria believe that election is the only time they see politicians very close to them, so they make all manner of demands on them. When I contested the last time, people continued to ask me for money, but I said I had no money to give, but good governance if voted in. I tried to make them understand that if they collect money from politicians they would be mortgaging their future. KOWA does not believe in buying votes, we believe in offering quality governance that will benefit everybody in the end,” Sonaiya said.
Since the return of Nigeria to civil rule in 1999, money in party politics has remained a big issue. A party that has a lot of it gets upper hand at elections. The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) right from inception had a lot of money with which they dictated the pace of political game in the country. Although, it was not for lack of money that the PDP lost the election in 2015, the then opposition party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) also matched kobo for kobo with it. It is no longer secret that the then two governors on its platform, who are today, ministers, shelled out huge amount of money that enabled the party’s presidential project a reality.
In Nigeria as in many other places, the party in power effectively controls the wealth of the country, it is against this backdrop that smaller parties have cried out over the likelihood of power domination as they cannot muster the financial muscle to effectively compete with the big parties.
Crowd-funding alien to Nigeria
Today, a number of the smaller parties look to crowd funding to raise money to prosecute their electoral activities. But critics say that such method does not resonate with the Nigerian electorate, who see such contribution as a waste of resources.
Kadiri Adigun, a political analyst, believes that the consistent failure of politicians to live up to their campaign promises is a disincentive to crowd-fund a politician’s election.
“We hear some parties and aspirants talk about crowd-funding. That does not strike a chord here. The reason is simple. You see, the impression in this part of the world is that politicians ride on the back of the electorate to get to power and thereafter abandon them. We have seen that always here. So, instead of contributing for politicians, the electorates make demands of them, because they know they may not see the politician again after election. In some other climes, crowd-funding works. The attitude of our politicians make it difficult, if not impossible for many people to buy into that,” Adigun said.
A pundit alleged that it was the issue of funding that got the PDP into trouble with Ali Modu Sheriff shortly after the party lost the presidential election in 2015.
According to the pundit, who craved anonymity, “Some of the party leaders that time felt that Ali Modu Sheriff was capable of running the party with his own money. Having lost the national purse, the PDP knew it was going to be pretty difficult running its affairs. The governors on the platform were not ready to be shelling out money for the party and they felt that Sheriff can take it up. Running a party is not a tea party actually; it is money-guzzling. Parties don’t save money; their money is for sharing and eating. That was why it was difficult for the PDP to stand on its feet after the election.”
