We are in trouble, can’t pay back the money we borrowed to win elections -Senators

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We are in trouble, can’t pay back the money we borrowed to win elections -Senators

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Some members of the National Assembly have cried out over their inability to recoup the millions they spent on campaigns, prior to the 2015 general elections.
The Senate

The Senate

As stipulated in section 91 of the Electoral Act 2010, campaign spending for Senate is not to exceed N40 million, while that of House of Representatives is pegged at N20 million.Violating the Act attracts a fine of N600, 000 or six months imprisonment or both, in the case of Senate, and a fine of N500, 000 or five months imprisonment or both, for Representatives who derail.However, aspiring National Assembly members are said to be spending well above their spending limit.While a member of the Red Chamber from the South-South disclosed that he spent N1billion during his campaign, one of his colleagues from the North-Central admitted to having spent N300 million.The expenditures were incurred before and during elections, excluding legal fees for those taken to court by their opponents after the election.Senator James Manager, who has represented Delta South since 2003 under the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, said senators were drained before, during and after the election by the public.He said, “Calls are coming from all over the places, bring this and bring that even after the election, we are still spending. In the Electoral Act, there is specific amount but in practical terms, it is not possible. We borrowed and are still borrowing,” he said.Manager spoke during the screening of Professor Okechukwu Ibeano as a national commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC.He recalled how a Senatorial candidate jumped into the lagoon after spending a huge sum on the election which he lost.He added, “A man who contested for one of three senatorial districts of Lagos in 2011 drove to his bank six months after the election.“On his way back, he asked his driver to stop, he walked for few minutes and jumped into the lagoon.“We are in trouble, Professor please how do we resolve this?” Manager asked Professor Ibeano.Chairman of the Senate Committee on INEC, Senator Abubakar Kyari, representing Borno North under the APC, said the amount stipulated in the Electoral Act was not realistic.According to him, “We have 120,000 polling units across the country and if a Presidential candidate pays N10, 000 to each agent at each of the polling units, he will spend N1.2billion just for agents on election day.”Professor Ibeano however, said, “I definitely feel your frustration but my profession is against borrowing for elections.“The only way out is for political parties to go back to the 60s where volunteer party members assist without being paid. As long as you pay for everything, you will continue to spend.”According to Daily Trust, lawmakers who served during previous assemblies made money through deals with MDAs and other government officials and those who failed to cooperate were frustrated.The present administration warned MDAs at the peak of budget processes last year, against lobbying for an increase in budgetary allocation at the National Assembly.A lawmaker told Daily Trust, “We are afraid to ask them (MDAs) now and they too are afraid to bring anything.“Like now that we’re approaching the end of the year, MDAs would bring a lot of things to us, but last year was totally different, and I’m sure this year too will be the same.”A senator who runs a transport business also said, “I should have concentrated on my business than coming here because now I don’t have enough time for my business, yet I’m not making anything here.”Another lawmaker noted, “Seriously, this is not what I expected. In fact, I can tell you that I was better off as a businessman than a legislator.“The story was different before I came here, at least so I was told. Our predecessors enjoyed their stay at the National Assembly, but our own case is different.”Some of the lawmakers said if things continued like this up to 2019, they might not seek re-election “because the business of legislature appears to be unprofitable.” 

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