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From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has decried the refusal of the major political parties, including the All Progressives Congress (APC), and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) among others to furnish the electoral commission with its audited account for years now.
It also expressed the concerns that only nine out of the 73 formally registered political parties that contested the 2019 general election legally complied with the directives of the electoral commission on the audit of their accounts.
The commission disclosed that while 34 political parties submitted their audited accounts, only nine complied with the statutory requirement of submission of accounts with the affidavit.
It made the disclosure at a two-day capacity-building workshop on the commission’s processes, innovation, preparations for the 2023 general election, and critical issues in the Electoral Act 2022 in Lagos.
Asked whether the big political parties complied, the commission emphatically replied: “None of the big parties has complied. Out of the 73 registered political parties that contested the 2019 general election, only 34 submitted their audited accounts while only nine fulfilled the statutory obligation of submitting the report with an affidavit.
“The good thing is that the commission has concluded arrangements to start the process of auditing the accounts of all the political parties in the past five years. We have dispatched letters to that effect and it will commence,” the commission said.
The electoral commission also disclosed that the presidential candidates of the 18 political parties are facing litigation at various law courts, adding that it is not good for the system.
