The issue of the legality of financial donations by Nigerians in the Diaspora to presidential candidates has emerged after the presidential standard bearer of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, was threatened with disqualification after it was reported that foreign-based Nigerians opened a portal to raise the sum of $150m to support his campaign. DEBORAH ONYOFUFEKE examines the issue in this piece

As the 2023 election draws nearer, candidates, political parties and citizens anticipate and prepare for the big day. People can’t stop speculating as to what the result might be. While every eligible voter tends to have a candidate they hope to emerge the winner, Nigerians, in general, are praying for a leader who will fix the damage that has been done to the country.

The date for the general elections has been fixed by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), kick-starting with the presidential election which has been slated for February 25, 2023.

Meanwhile, Campaigns for the presidential election in the country will officially commence this week, precisely on September 28, 2022.

With the campaign, preparations come finance issues, which usually take the front burner of subsequent elections in Nigeria.

After it was reported that Nigerians in the diaspora have formed committees to create a crowdfunding portal to raise the sum of $150m from Obi’s supporters in the diaspora and N100bn from those in Nigeria, to support the Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, the information has generated some controversy, particularly on the legality of raising the sum of $150m Diaspora donation for Obi’s campaign for 2023.

In its reaction, The Tinubu-Shettima Connect, an All Progressives Congress (APC) support group, has demanded that INEC should disqualify Obi from what it described as a “violation of the electoral act”.

The group threatened to file a legal suit against Obi over the development.

Another group, The Progressive Clan, in a statement, kicked against the decision to raise funds from Nigerians in the diaspora, while asking INEC to intervene in the matter.

“To be clear, these acts are an affront to the sacred provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Electoral Act,” the group said.

“They are unlawful and the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) must arrest illegalities immediately to assure Nigerians that the 2023 elections would not be influenced from outside in any form,” it added.

Obi, however, denied receiving a $150m donation from Nigerians in the diaspora, describing the reports of such donation as speculation.

He said, “Nobody has given me anything. That is speculation. What I need is not what they would give me, but what they would give Nigeria because we need them to turn around Nigeria.

“This is the energy, the capacity that we need to turn around Nigeria. Every country that was turned around, was done by the diaspora. Even in the Bible, Joseph who left, later came back to feed his people,” he said.

*What the Electoral Act says On Diaspora donation

The 2022 Nigerian Electoral Act, as amended, prohibits candidates from accepting foreign donations to fund election campaigns.

The 1999 Constitution (as amended) and the Electoral Act of 2022 have provisions for the role of INEC in the collection of annual statements of political parties, analysis of sources of funds, and restrictions on campaign funds.

Section 225 (3) (a) of the 1999 Constitution prohibits political parties from having assets or funds in foreign countries.

Section 225 (3) states, “No political party shall hold or possess any funds or other assets outside Nigeria; or be entitled to retain any funds or assets remitted or sent to it from outside Nigeria.

“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 21 days of its receipt with such information as the omission may require,” the constitution stipulates.

Also, Section 85 of the Electoral Act 2022 re-echoes the provisions of Section 225 of the 1999 Constitution which states, among others, 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.”

Speaking, a renowned constitutional lawyer, Kayode Ajulo, stated that it is not out of place for a presidential candidate to accept donations from persons or organisations, but it is the amount in question that matters, according to the constitution.

“It is not wrong for anybody to make a donation for a presidential candidate, and mind you, what peg is the amount an individual can pick? If it is within the minimum of that, and we have an N500m donation made that turns into N1bn, no crime has been committed, I must be sincere. That is what many people don’t understand.

Ajulo adds, “If, for example, the Law says an individual cannot pay N10m, and a corporate organisation cannot pay N50m, and now, an individual pays N1m, which is below, one can raise more than N100m of that and receive such amount of money. No one will make any issue out of it.

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“What it is, is that there is a maximum an individual can make, a maximum an organisation can make. So, if, for example, a company cannot make more than N50m, and a company now makes a donation of N40m, multiple times till it becomes N1bn, there is no issue. We have to look at what is the law and let it be interpreted well.

“That’s why the issue of somebody saying Diaspora raised $50m matters. The question is what the law says of individual donations; who knows how many are diaspora? When we have five million people in the diaspora, if they come together and make donations of N10 each, and you multiply it by the number of Diasporas, you know it’s huge. Now, that’s what the law says,” he explained.

In his contribution, an Abuja-based lawyer, Festus Onifade, explained that the law only prohibits a political party from accepting donations, and not the candidate.

He said, “The law permits an individual presidential candidate to seek funds from anywhere. What the law prohibits is the political party itself. The law does not prohibit the individual candidate from seeking funds from anywhere, but the political party.

“$50m is the ceiling for individual candidates. Money can come in for an individual candidate up to $50m, and also, in these circumstances, we are now talking about liquid cash. So, assuming this money is coming from outside, and is not coming in liquid cash, assuming it is coming in way of support and infrastructure, you know that money is difficult to quantify. So, such a candidate will not be breaking any law. If the money comes in from outside directly to him.

“However, if it is a political party, my answer will be a little different because there is a prohibition for political parties from taking money from outside.

“You must also not forget the express provision for qualification of candidates. Section 8 of the Electoral Act spells out the qualification of a political candidate for the office of the president, where it says, you must be a citizen of Nigeria, you must not be a lunatic, and other conditions expressly provided therein. When a candidate is not in breach of those conditions, having emerged from his political party, I think in all respects, he cannot be disqualified,” Onifade said.