Political Parties and Election Financingin Nigeria:Interrogating the Real Issues in the 2015 General Elections

Abstract

It is a truism that funds are very critical to the proper and effective functioning of democratic political process and politics. Without funds, it would be absolutely difficult for political parties to articulate their ideas and visions to the public and, without which the electorates cannot make informed choices during elections. Unfortunately, party campaigns in most African countries are fraught with despicable levels of corruption. Granted that some efforts have been made to reform laws regulating political campaigns and party funding, campaign financing and their abuses thereof remain shrouded in mystery. It is in this connection that this essay critically interrogates political parties and election/campaign financing in Nigeria, with specific emphasis on the 2015 general elections. The chapter demonstrates that despite the existence of an enabling Act to sanitize campaign financing in Nigeria, the suspicious manner in which the presidential candidates of the two major political parties mobilized huge campaign funds in the wake of the 2015 general elections, reveals not just the contempt with which they hold this law, but also exposes the blatant corruption and commercialization of the electioneering process.