A pro-democracy Non-Governmental Organization, the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, has decried the prohibitive cost of election campaign by political parties preparatory to the 2015 general elections.
HURIWA has therefore called for effective and efficient monitoring of campaign funds by the Independent National Electoral Commission, the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
It said this was to ensure compliance to extant electoral laws relating to campaign funding.
HURIWA accused the government institutions of doing nothing and allowing impunity to reign supreme in the way and manner politicians spend huge financial resources to prosecute election campaigns over the years.
Besides, the Rights group has urged for the use of the huge financial resources being systematically amassed for election campaigns by the two dominant political parties, the Peoples Democratic Party and the All Progressives Congress, to be diverted to Nigeria’s defence sector for the purposes of more efficiently equipping the combatants in the frontlines of the current counter terrorism battles.
It said this will enable the quick defeat of the well armed and motivated armed Islamic terrorists waging a war of attrition against Nigeria.
The Rights group stated that it is laughable that the nation only recently borrowed $1 billion to fight terrorism when it is known that locally companies and individuals abound who could have raised such amount, which these individuals have now donated for mere mundane election campaign, possibly to procure future pecuniary patronage and privileges from the central government.
HURIWA, in the statement made available to the media and jointly endorsed by the National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, and the National Media Affairs Director, Zainab Yusuf, had argued that in a time of disturbing war against the Nigerian people and governmental institutions by the armed terrorists, it would be unreasonable and insensitive to also live with the harsh reality that political office seekers have piled up massive financial resources for electoral campaign when the nation is aflame and thousands of innocent Nigerians facing the unfortunate gruesome fate of being slaughtered and displaced by the terrorists.
HURIWA said: “Have we no national conscience any more and has our sense of national outrage dead that whilst thousands of our people are without homes made so by armed terrorists and marauders and have become refugees in other fringe countries whereby they are treated in the most subhuman way and at this same time certain business executives have embarked on spending spree to assist political office seekers win election next year?”
HURIWA’s media statement followed reports of unprecedented Naira rain during the fund raiser ceremony at the Presidential Villa Abuja in which the Peoples Democratic Party amassed over N21 billion from a diverse group of stakeholders in the private and public sector for the prosecution of the 2015 presidential campaign.
It also said the groundswell of allegations by the Rivers State chapter of the PDP that the Governor of the state, Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi, has frittered billions of Rivers State peoples’ money to bankroll the primary election campaign of the presidential candidate of the APC, Major General Muhammadu Buhari.