2023 Presidency: CBN, DSS, EFCC, ICPC To Stand By As INEC Gives Tough Condition For All Prospective Candidates

• INEC has said that before campaigns for 2023 general elections begin, candidates must declare their bank assets
• The commission stated that such declarations must be made so that it can monitor how much funds are used by politicians and political parties for rallies
• INEC's leadership in a recent conference held in Abuja said CBN, DSS, EFCC, and other law enforcement agencies will be on the lookout

Abuja - Presidential aspirants who are battling to be flagbearers for their political parties ahead of the 2023 general elections are being watched by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

INEC's chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, represented by a commissioner of the organisation, Kunle Ajayi, during an Abuja conference convened by The Electoral Forum, said the sources of funds by parties and politicians will be tracked, Punch reports.

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Ajayi noted that the commission will set up a committee to monitor election expenditure ahead of the polls.

The commissioner added that law enforcement agencies like the Department of State Service, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, the ICPC, including commercial banks will be on the lookout for suspicious spending when campaigns officially begin.

Even more, Ajayi stated that candidates will be made to declare their bank assets since that is the source of funds.

His words:

“We have not officially declared a notice for the 2023 general election, but when we so declare, we will put our monitoring committees to motion like the Central Bank of Nigeria, DSS, EFCC, the ICPC, (commercial) banks, and other law enforcement agencies. We have that plan already.

“Every candidate must be made to declare his bank asset. That is where they draw out their money, so we will make them present their statement of account right from the onset.

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“We will make it mandatory for them to turn in their bank statement so that if they say they are doing billboard and the account remains the same, then there is a problem.”

2023 general elections: Underage persons will not be allowed to vote, INEC says

Meanwhile, INEC on Wednesday, January 19, said it was undertaking a comprehensive cleaning up of the voters’ register to remove under-aged persons who may attempt to vote during the exercise.

Yakubu gave the assurance in Abuja during the commission’s first quarterly meeting with civil society organisations.

He maintained that only eligible citizens would be added to the voters’ register for the 2023 poll.

Source: Legit.ng