The Civil Society Network Against Corruption has asked the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Adamu Mu’azu, to provide the details of the donors of the N21bn for the President Goodluck Jonathan’s re-election campaign.
CSNAC, a coalition of over 150 anti-corruption organisations, made the request through its letter dated December 22, 2015 to the party under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act, 2011.
The event where 21 Peoples Democratic Party’s governors, business people, multinational organisations, interest groups, the Niger Delta Development Commission and individuals donated a sum of N21.27bn to support the President’s campaign for the 2015 presidential election held on Saturday.
In its letter by its Program Manager, Adeola Abodurin, to Mu’azu, CSNAC said the information about the donation was vague and “non-provision of such information undermines the legitimacy and credibility of electoral and democratic processes.”
The group gave PDP seven days to supply the requested information.
The letter read in part, “Even so, information was still restricted among the few names and details of donors mentioned. For instance, Premium Times quoted Punch Newspapers that the Chairman of Skye Bank, Chief Tunde Ayeni, who chaired the occasion and opened the donations with N2billion stated that, N1bn was from him and his partner while the other N1bn was contributed by his other friends; the statement obscuring the names of his ‘other friends.’
“These reports are rather vague and non-provision of such information undermines the legitimacy and credibility of electoral and democratic processes; providing the information is vital to curtail the risks of corruption during the electoral campaigns for the February 2015 general elections. Section 90, 91 and 92 of the Electoral Act, 2010 placed a ceiling on contribution by any individual to a political party and also limits the expenses that can be incurred by any candidate in an election. Also, section 93 of same Act forbids any political party from accepting money or assets from anonymous sources.
“In light of all these, CSNAC is hereby requesting, in accordance with the Section 2, 3, 4 of the Freedom of Information Act, 2011, for;
“1. Names and details of the donors and;
“2. How much was contributed by each of the donor totaling N21.7bn.
“We look forward to receiving these documents promptly and, in any event, within seven days of the receipt of this application as provided for in the Freedom of Information Act, 2011.”


Source: Punch.