{"id":13565,"date":"2023-02-24T18:14:22","date_gmt":"2023-02-24T17:14:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/?p=13565"},"modified":"2023-02-24T18:14:24","modified_gmt":"2023-02-24T17:14:24","slug":"house-of-representatives-member-ado-garba-makes-false-claims-about-election-campaign-funds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/house-of-representatives-member-ado-garba-makes-false-claims-about-election-campaign-funds\/","title":{"rendered":"House of Representatives Member Ado Garba makes false claims about election campaign funds"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Claim: <\/strong>Lawmaker Ado Garba says the law expects an aspiring member of the House of Representatives to have N70 million in hard currency to fund their campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Verdict: <\/strong>False! The Electoral Act only explains the limitation to the amount a political candidate may spend during an election period. For a senatorial candidate, it is N100 million; for a House of Representative candidate, it is\u00a0N70 million. The Act does not indicate that the money must be in hard currency.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full Text<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A member of the House of Representatives and Majority Leader representing Doguwa\/Tudun Wada Federal Constituency of Kano State, Ado Garba, has said the law allows a lawmaker access to up to N70 million in physical currency for an election campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a video clip shared on Twitter by onejoblessboy<\/a>, Garba stated that he is permitted under the law to have access to N70 million in \u2018in hard copy\u2019 to organise his election campaign as an aspiring candidate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe law has permitted me to have N70 million as logistics for my election funding. I need to have this N70 million in hard copy,\u201d he said. \u201cThat is the position of the law\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Garba added that the “law has provided all we need to oversee our election process” and explained that “you need to pay your agents in the villages, where you do not have ATMs\u2026 POS\u2026 where absolutely you do not have this new naira.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Verification <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The 2022 Electoral Act, Section 88, Sub-section four, clearly provides that campaign expenses for a senatorial or house of representatives candidate should not exceed N100 million and N70 million respectively. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe maximum amount of election expenses to be incurred by a candidate in respect of Senatorial and House of Representatives seat shall not exceed N100,000,000 and N70,000,000 respectively,\u201d the Act reads. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the provision does not mention nor discuss the mode in which the capped capital for the election expenses can and should be wielded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Expert opinion<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

DUBAWA interviewed a lawyer and the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Afri Forecasts, Eluma Asogwua, who explained that the Act only stipulates the amount of money an aspirant may expend for their campaign.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo person or body corporate shall, except in a transaction through a Financial Institution, make or accept cash payment of a sum exceeding N5,000,000.00 or its equivalent, in the case of an individual; or N10, 000,000.00 or its equivalent, in the case of a body corporate,\u201d\u00a0 Asogwua added, referring to the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another legal practitioner, a lawyer at Adelante Castle Attorneys, Elizabeth Achile, debunked the claim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Achile said that although the Electoral Act limits the amount that can be expended in an election, the money is not meant to be spent \u201cusing cash at the polling unit.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She clarified that \u201celectoral expenses\u201d means \u201cexpenses incurred by a political party within the period from the date notice is given by the commission to conduct an election up to the polling day in respect of the particular election.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe naira policy or cashless policy does not, in any way, affect this because it is not saying that [the person] should bring [N70 million] and share to people [rather] it is saying that this is the money you can spend,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Achile finally added that the law cautions the amount of money politicians can spend legitimately or even illegitimately \u201cbecause an audited statement of account will be sent to INEC after the elections to show how much has been spent.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conclusion<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The claim is false as the electoral act only explains the limitation to the amount a political candidate may spend for an election. It does not suggest that the money should be in hard currency. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Claim: Lawmaker Ado Garba says the law expects an aspiring member of the House of Representatives to have N70 million in hard currency to fund their campaign. Verdict: False! The Electoral Act only explains the limitation to the amount a political candidate may spend during an election period. For a senatorial candidate, it is N100 million; for a House of Representative candidate, it is\u00a0N70 million. The Act does not indicate that the money must be in hard currency.\u00a0 Full Text A member of the House of Representatives and Majority Leader representing Doguwa\/Tudun Wada Federal Constituency of Kano State, Ado Garba, has said the law allows a lawmaker access to up to N70 million in physical currency for an election campaign. In a video clip shared on Twitter by onejoblessboy, Garba stated that he is permitted under the law to have access to N70 million in \u2018in hard copy\u2019 to organise his election campaign as an aspiring candidate. \u201cThe law has permitted me to have N70 million as logistics for my election funding. I need to have this N70 million in hard copy,\u201d he said. \u201cThat is the position of the law\u201d. Garba added that the “law has provided all we need to oversee our election process” and explained that “you need to pay your agents in the villages, where you do not have ATMs\u2026 POS\u2026 where absolutely you do not have this new naira.\u201d\u00a0 Verification  The 2022 Electoral Act, Section 88, Sub-section four, clearly provides that campaign expenses for a senatorial or house of representatives candidate should not exceed N100 million and N70 million respectively.  \u201cThe maximum amount of election expenses to be incurred by a candidate in respect of Senatorial and House of Representatives seat shall not exceed N100,000,000 and N70,000,000 respectively,\u201d the Act reads.  However, the provision does not mention nor discuss the mode in which the capped capital for the election expenses can and should be wielded. Expert opinion DUBAWA interviewed a lawyer and the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Afri Forecasts, Eluma Asogwua, who explained that the Act only stipulates the amount of money an aspirant may expend for their campaign.\u00a0 \u201cNo person or body corporate shall, except in a transaction through a Financial Institution, make or accept cash payment of a sum exceeding N5,000,000.00 or its equivalent, in the case of an individual; or N10, 000,000.00 or its equivalent, in the case of a body corporate,\u201d\u00a0 Asogwua added, referring to the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act. Another legal practitioner, a lawyer at Adelante Castle Attorneys, Elizabeth Achile, debunked the claim. Achile said that although the Electoral Act limits the amount that can be expended in an election, the money is not meant to be spent \u201cusing cash at the polling unit.\u201d\u00a0 She clarified that \u201celectoral expenses\u201d means \u201cexpenses incurred by a political party within the period from the date notice is given by the commission to conduct an election up to the polling day in respect of the particular election.\u201d \u201cThe naira policy or cashless policy does not, in any way, affect this because it is not saying that [the person] should bring [N70 million] and share to people [rather] it is saying that this is the money you can spend,\u201d she added. Achile finally added that the law cautions the amount of money politicians can spend legitimately or even illegitimately \u201cbecause an audited statement of account will be sent to INEC after the elections to show how much has been spent.\u201d Conclusion The claim is false as the electoral act only explains the limitation to the amount a political candidate may spend for an election. It does not suggest that the money should be in hard currency. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13566,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"hannibal_claim_source":"","hannibal_source_label":"","hannibal_card_color":"blue","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":false,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"","_twitter_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type":"","_pinterest_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"","_medium_share_type":"","_threads_share_type":"","_google_business_share_type":"","_bluesky_share_type":"","_mastodon_share_type":"","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[5,1571,16],"tags":[],"verdict":[],"ppma_author":[3699],"class_list":["post-13565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-elections","category-fact-check","category-politics"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8R6dE-3wN","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"authors":[{"term_id":3699,"user_id":0,"is_guest":1,"slug":"cole-praise","display_name":"Cole Praise","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7934b84f51e2c1f4c1e77cce93c223ac97cc2da29198aa9141fd944b0407bb2d?s=96&r=g","author_category":"","user_url":"","last_name":"","first_name":"","job_title":"","description":""}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/funds.png?fit=760%2C510&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13565","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13565"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13565\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13567,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13565\/revisions\/13567"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13565"},{"taxonomy":"verdict","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/verdict?post=13565"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=13565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}