The organization said the disclosure was necessary to promote transparency and prevent excessive financial influence from undermining the electoral process.
SERAP asked INEC Chairman, Professor Joash Amupitan, to disclose the systems, personnel and procedures put in place to monitor and enforce compliance with political contribution and campaign spending limits.
It also wants the electoral commission to explain how it plans to track cash and non-cash donations, digital and social media financing, third-party spending and donations made through intermediaries.
According to SERAP, Nigerians should know how political financing is being monitored before the 2027 elections rather than waiting until after the polls.
“INEC’s constitutional responsibility is not simply to receive financial statements from political parties. The Constitution requires the Commission to examine political-party finances, conduct necessary investigations and report to the National Assembly,” the organization said.
SERAP expressed concern over what it described as the persistent failure of political parties to properly disclose campaign contributions.
“Nigeria has a persistent problem of political parties failing to disclose campaign contributions. Such non-compliance has been described as systemic, while the absence of clear and effective sanctions for default has weakened INEC’s ability to enforce compliance,” it said.
The organization said Nigeria had continued to face problems, including excessive campaign spending, unclear sources of political funding, poor disclosure, and weak enforcement of existing political-finance regulations.
It also raised concerns that spending limits could be circumvented and that violations were rarely identified and effectively sanctioned.
“It remains unclear whether INEC has prescribed, clearly published and effectively monitored the applicable contribution limits, and whether political parties and candidates can be held accountable for contributions and expenditure that exceed applicable limits or are deliberately concealed,” SERAP said.
The organization warned that statutory spending and contribution limits should not be treated as mere accounting requirements after elections, but as measures designed to prevent excessive financial influence while political competition is ongoing.
SERAP said it would take legal action against INEC if the commission failed to provide the requested information within seven days of receiving or publishing the letter.
Below are SERAP’s key requests to INEC.
- Disclose and publish any political contribution limits prescribed under Section 91 of the Electoral Act, 2026.
- Disclose the latest political parties’ detailed statements on their assets and liabilities, their sources of funds, and other assets and expenditures submitted to INEC.
- Publish the latest political parties’ financial records, including annual statements, audited accounts and election expenditure returns for 2023–2025.
- Publish its Section 225 and 226 examination and audit reports, including annual reports submitted to the National Assembly for 2023–2025.
- Disclose any enforcement actions arising from political finance and expenditure violations.
- Disclose its 2027 political-finance monitoring plan, including arrangements for real-time or near-real-time monitoring and cooperation with relevant anti-corruption, financial-intelligence, regulatory and law-enforcement agencies.
- Disclose the political parties that submitted their reports of contributions received following the 2023 General Elections, the dates of submission, and the action taken against parties that failed to submit the reports within the statutory deadline, including the reported non-compliance by the majority of the parties that sponsored candidates.
