The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has been urged to ban political parties from inducing voters with food and other items ahead of the 2023 general elections.

Transition Monitoring Group (TMG) said the money used by politicians for campaigns is usually proceeds of money laundering and illicit financial flow misusing taxpayers’ money for their personal gains.

“So we need to ensure that INEC equally puts a ban on giving rice, salt, and sugar among other things during the campaign,” the group chairman, Auwal Rafsanjani, said on Monday in Abuja.

“There is a failure in political parties ’campaign financing regulation in Nigeria, so candidates engage in all sorts of irregularities with impunity,” Mr Rafsanjani added.

He said most politicians do not pay taxes, while many more do not declare their assets.

“We equally want INEC to ensure compliance of the electoral law that also bans the use of excessive money during campaigns, the campaign financing limit should be restricted and complied with.

“So it is in this context that we support INEC’s recent statement that they will be requiring politicians to provide their bank accounts.

“Beyond that, we want proper enforcement of assets declaration in Nigeria,” he said.

Mr Rafsanjani added that there was the need for politicians to declare their assets to enable the public to know how they got them, and for diligent verification of the same.

“This is to enable Nigerians to know if the money is legitimate or public taxpayers’ money cornered to finance political parties or electoral process to favour them.

“Politics is like an investment, they invest in political offices, and after the election, they go and start recouping their money and making so much profits from public taxpayers,” he said.

(NAN)