The importance of campaign funding in the Nigerian elections
Funding is one of the most important aspects of political campaigning. In Nigerian politics, the availability of funds has traditionally determined whether a candidate will win an election or not. Funding is typically used to hire political and media advisors, field organisers, and volunteers who all work together to mobilise voters to support a certain candidate. The importance of funding has led to corruption in the past and the current candidates can be just as susceptible, with Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, reportedly seeking foreign funds to support his campaign. Certain types of donations are restricted for national and security concerns, and with the 2023 elections just around the corner, it is crucial to analyse how the candidates and parties will handle campaign financing.
Nigeria has two sources of funding for parties and candidates: state finance and private fundraising. Public financing is when the government contributes money to political parties and their candidates during the election season. These contributions can take a variety of forms, like direct subsidy payments or the use of state postal services at a discounted rate. On the other hand, private fundraising involves private donors who support political campaigns. These funds can be provided by for-profit businesses, groups, and private individuals. While private funding is a common method used by authorities, there are various drawbacks to it that might result in political corruption. The stability, democracy, and economic prosperity of Nigeria are threatened by the possibility that elected politicians may be held more accountable to those who fund their campaigns than to their voters. In this sense, the sponsorship may be perceived as a business transaction where the patron recovers their investment through procurement contracts and public works.
Elections are expensive, and one of the most common methods to undermine them is through financial corruption. In Nigeria, winning the presidential election might cost as much as $2 billion. Due to this, corrupt public office holders frequently provide funding to candidates by diverting public funds to their own accounts. Campaign corruption has a history in Nigeria; for instance, a Federal Government investigation from 2015 said that over $2 billion was stolen from the national treasury to support the campaign of former President Goodluck Jonathan. Further elaborating on the detrimental impact of money on elections, Clement Nwankwo claims that these consequences extend from "excessive campaign financing to vote buying at polling booths". Political parties unquestionably require financial resources in order to run in the elections, however, one of the biggest threats to democracy today is the influence of money in politics.
It can be tempting for candidates to turn to corrupt fundraising methods given how important money is to elections. This could be the case with Peter Obi, a presidential candidate for the Labour Party who has recently been accused of seeking money to fund his campaign abroad. As of the time of writing, the APC and the PDP party hold approximately 90% of all elective positions in the nation. Alongside this, a sizeable portion of their campaign funding is anticipated to come from the public treasury. Underdog Obi has thus been driven to solicit funding in a nation without a fundraising culture. To tackle these issues, Obi is alleged to have undertaken a tour of major US cities, Canada, and Germany in order to solicit campaign funding from the international Nigerian diaspora. Nigerians are the largest African diaspora population worldwide; in 2017 alone, Nigerians living in the US paid almost $6.2 billion in remittances back to Nigeria. If Obi were to garner funds from Nigerians living abroad, he would be able to compete with his wealthier frontline candidates.
The Labour Party's problem is that political parties in Nigeria are not allowed to accept financing from abroad, as stated in section 225 of the constitution. Section 85 of the electoral act also adds that any party to violate this clause will be subject to a fine of at least N5,000,000 ($11, 627) and forfeiture to the commission of any funds or assets acquired with those funds. Despite the seriousness of these charges against Obi, the Labour Party has consistently disputed the reports, calling it "ridiculous" that the LP's opponents have implied they are unaware of election regulations.
Nigeria has systems in place to stop any unconstitutional financial endeavours by a political party or candidate such as Peter Obi. Each political party is required to provide an in-depth yearly statement, an analysis of its funding sources, and a description of its expenses to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). This is crucial because unregulated campaign financing has the potential to distort the electoral process by creating an uneven playing field for candidates. However, it is still unclear how the Nigerian government and the INEC will effectively monitor transnational remittances that arrive through channels like Gofundme during the 2023 elections to make sure that variations in the amounts of funding between parties do not limit the possibility of political competition.