Lawyers Calling For the Prosecution of PDP and N21. 27bn Donors Towards Jonathan’s Campaign

In a recent report, some lawyers, including Senior Advocates of Nigeria, are calling for the prosecution of the Peoples Democratic Party and those who donated over N21. 27bn towards President Goodluck Jonathan’s campaign.

According to Punch, the donors breached the Electoral Act by exceeding the limit stipulated by the Act.

Section 91(9) of the Act reads, “An individual or other entity shall not donate more than N1,000,000 to any candidate.”
Sub-section 10 of the same section adds that a presidential candidate “who knowingly acts in contravention of this section commits an offence and on conviction is liable to a maximum fine of N1m or imprisonment for a term of 12 months or both.”

Section 91(2) of the same Act states that, “The maximum election expenses to be incurred by a candidate at a presidential election shall be N1bn.”

The lawyers – Prof. Itse Sagay, Femi Falana, Emeka Ngige, Mr. Jiti Ogunye and Monday Ubani – said the Peoples Democratic Party dinner/fund-raiser on Saturday was the height of impunity by the ruling party – While Sagay said the whole exercise was suspicious, Falana and Ogunye argued that the PDP and the donors needed to be punished to serve as a deterrent to others.
So even the ruling PDP doesn’t have a copy of the Nigerian constitution???