A human rights lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN) has criticised the moves by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to use anti-corruption agencies to monitor the disbursement of funds meant for INEC.
Speaking with Daily Trust yesterday, Falana called on INEC to rise and defend its independence as the constitution has given it the mandate to make guidelines on the conduct of elections.
“It is a litany of illegalities; the Central Bank has printed monies without appropriation by the National Assembly; they have spent billions without appropriation by the National Assembly either in their 2022 or 2023 budget.
“Having usurped the powers of INEC, the simple fact is that INEC is going to manage to shop for logistics for the election, that is totally illegal,” he said.
However, Professor Paul Ananaba (SAN) said it could not constitute a breach of INEC’s independence since the electoral commission is not required to seek approval of CBN or some oversight on their funds, but the monitoring.
“If the anti-corruption agencies are not monitoring the expenditure, it means they are not doing their work,” he said.
