Sowore Publishes 2023 Campaign Expenses, Seeks Accountability

The presidential campaign organisation of Omoyele Sowore, the candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), in the just concluded presidential election in Nigeria has released the final breakdown of the 2023 presidential election campaign donations, sources of funding and expenditure.

This is even as the Sowore Political Action Committee (SPAC) also challenged other presidential candidates, including Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to release financial statements of their campaign.

A statement signed by the national publicity secretary of AAC, Femi Adeyeye, and issued yesterday in Abuja said this is in line with best campaign practices and the spirit of accountability of the party.

In the 2019 election, a published report showed that the Sowore campaign had an income of N157,884,936.98 and an expenditure of N157,805,799.40, leaving a closing balance of N79,137.28.

Adeyeye recalled that the committee gave monthly updates during the campaign and this is not the first time it will be releasing a breakdown such as this.

He said in 2019, the AAC candidate also released a complete breakdown of campaign expenses, the first recorded in the history of electioneering campaigns in Nigeria’s history.

The statement reads in part: “The Sowore Presidential campaign organisation, then in a novel manner released detailed accounts of money received and spent, which was published on major dailies in the country.

“Besides monetary contributions, we cannot quantify the human resources put into the campaign from Nigerians who supported us day and night. Those who stood their ground and gave their time to toe the path of honour and integrity, we cannot thank you all enough.”

He said the organisation also hopes that those in particular who sought public donations during the campaign season will also show Nigerians the donations they got from the campaign donors across Nigeria and beyond.

“We can’t have a clean leadership recruitment process in this country with people who shroud their campaign spending in secrecy.

“We believe that those who can’t keep books of campaign expenses and transparently account for the expenses incurred can’t run a country like Nigeria properly,” the statement added.