The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, known as SERAP, has sued the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, over its alleged failure to investigate claims that governors elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress diverted about 800 billion naira of public funds for political and campaign purposes, according to Channels Television. The organisation wants the electoral body compelled to act on the allegations.
In the suit filed before the Federal High Court in Abuja, SERAP is asking the court to issue an order directing INEC to investigate the allegations and to determine whether the reported campaign-financing arrangements breach the provisions of the Electoral Act. The group argues that the commission has a duty to examine how political actors are raising and spending money ahead of the next general election.
According to the suit, the funds were allegedly sourced through monthly deductions from Federation Account Allocation Committee, FAAC, allocations, which were said to be channelled into a dedicated campaign fund. That fund, the claims allege, is intended to support President Bola Tinubu's re-election bid in the 2027 general election, raising questions about the use of public money for partisan purposes.
SERAP is asking the court to compel INEC to demand full disclosure of the campaign fund, including the identities of donors and the sources of the financial support behind it. The organisation insists that transparency about who is financing political campaigns is essential to ensuring that voters can properly assess the fairness of the process leading up to the elections.
The group also wants INEC to enforce Section 91 of the Electoral Act, which governs political financing by parties and candidates, and to commence a comprehensive review of compliance with those rules. SERAP contends that the provisions on campaign spending and donations exist precisely to prevent the kind of large-scale, unaccounted-for funding described in its filing.
SERAP argues that unchecked campaign funding threatens transparency, electoral fairness and the credibility of the 2027 general elections. It maintains that allowing allegations of this scale to go uninvestigated would undermine public confidence in the electoral process and weaken the constitutional rights of Nigerians to participate freely in democratic governance.
The organisation insists that INEC must uphold its constitutional duty to safeguard the country's democratic process by acting on the allegations rather than ignoring them. By taking the matter to the Federal High Court, SERAP is seeking to force a judicial determination on whether the commission can be legally obliged to probe the alleged diversion of public funds.