Bauchi State office of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared that it will monitor every campaign spending of all the candidates of the political parties vying for various elective offices in the state in line with the provisions of the electoral act.
The declaration was made last weekend by INEC’s Head of Election and Party Monitoring Unit in Bauchi state, Alhaji Ahmed Waziri, during the signing of Peace Accord by all the governorship candidates held at the INEC office.
He said the Commission will liaise with all relevant government agencies like the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as well as commercial banks to monitor monetary transactions by the political parties and their candidates before and during the electioneering process.
The move according to him, is to ensure full compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended) which pegged the amount a candidate can spend during the campaign and what he can receive as donations from individuals, group or other sources.
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Waziri said: “Let me use this opportunity to inform both the political parties and their candidates that as you are running your campaigns, the commission is tracking your campaign expenses to ensure compliance in relations to the sources, limitation of expenses and others as provided by the electoral act.”
He also disclosed that out of the 91 registered political parties in the country, 61 have documentation with INEC in Bauchi State while 28 have governorship candidates for the 2019 general elections.
Waziri noted that the 28 candidates were selected by the parties in line with the provisions of Section 87 of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended).
“We, therefore, appealed to all relevant stakeholders to ensure compliance to the laid down procedures so as to achieve the desired objective of having free, fair and credible election devoid of any violence,” he added.
We will not trust because some of you are using the organization to enrich themselves especially in this crucial time.