Professor Attahiru Jega, the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission has said that Electoral Act prevents the commission from screening candidates of political parties and controlling campaign funds.
Jega made this statement while making a presentation on ‘Policy as a Tool for political Inclusion in Nigeria: INEC and 2015 Elections,’ during a policy dialogue organised by the African Policy Research Institute (APRI).
Jega “On party funds and money spent on elections, before 2011 election we did nothing about monitoring or regulating campaign funds. But as part of the process of restructuring in INEC, a unit has been created to monitor campaign expenditures by candidates.
“The law does not permit us to screen candidates in the way it was done in the past. If we follow the law strictly, we should just take candidates that were given to us by the parties. Section 31 of the Electoral Act says that once a party submits its nomination list to INEC we cannot reject any candidate for whatsoever.
“Regrettably the law says we cannot monitor the campaign funds of aspirants and you can become a candidate when your party fields you.
“Now, we are planning to monitor campaign expenditure of political parties and candidates. The November meeting that we had with parties, we have circulated the forms that now require them to fill certain forms.”
He also added that “Nigerians are in a hurry, they want to now make judgment about candidates that have either made donation or spent more But then if you look at the law clearly, it states that until the end of the elections then you make a final judgment on what has been spent or if the law is breached. Regrettably again is the constraint of legal provisions.”
On the conduct of elections in North East, he said “INEC is planning a stakeholder’s programme next week to present our plans to conduct elections for the IDPs in North-east.
“First and foremost, INEC is aware that there are many displaced persons in the country, but our focus will be in the North-east zone and it will only be for those persons that are in the states. It will be for those displaced because communal conflicts and not because of flooding or other things.”
He assured Nigerians that before elections, all the cards would have been produced; he said “Since August, some of the cards are ready awaiting collection at the local government secretariat.
“Now that it is close to election we are being overwhelmed with distribution. We have extended the distribution to few days before the election. Cards can be distributed on the day of election.
“As I speak with you we have distributed over 72 percent of the cards that have been produced.”