The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project dragged the Independent National Electoral Commission to the Federal High Court in Abuja on Sunday over its failure to account for N126.46bn in public funds. The lawsuit follows damning findings in the 2023 audited report from the Auditor-General of the Federation, which flagged widespread financial irregularities in election operations between 2022 and 2023. Sloppy ledgers invite deep public suspicion. In suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/2507/2026, the watchdog group seeks an order of mandamus compelling the electoral umpire to name every contractor, beneficial owner, and official tied to the missing money.
The auditor discovered that commission chiefs paid over N112.15bn for ballot boxes, technical equipment, and vehicles without showing any physical delivery notes or verifiable factory addresses. State procurement rules exist to stop this specific brand of bureaucratic looting, yet commission officials ignored them with predictable swagger. Public procurement requires hard paper trails. The auditor also flagged another N235m handed to unqualified vendors for sleeping mats and digital archiving, warning that treasury funds went into private pockets.
Managing elections in Africa’s largest democracy costs taxpayers billions of naira every cycle, yet the commission routinely treats its financial accounts as personal fiefdom secrets. Electoral trust demands clean internal books. Chairman Joash Amupitan must now explain to federal judges why public officers authorised massive commercial wire transfers to corporate ghosts while field workers slept on bare floors during national polls. Secret spending ruins democratic legitimacy fast.
The legal challenge tests whether constitutional transparency provisions under Chapter Two and the Freedom of Information Act can pierce the wall of impunity around election cash in Abuja. State agencies routinely ignore statutory audit queries until civil society drags them before high court judges. Litigating against institutional opacity requires patience. By demanding full disclosure of bank statements, contract files, and recovery timelines, SERAP intends to expose how senior electoral bureaucrats enrich cronies behind ballot operations.
Abuja cannot run credible general elections in 2027 while leaving N126bn in past operational expenses unaccounted for in state registers. Siphoning electoral funds sabotages democracy directly. If federal judges grant the mandamus order, the ruling will force anti-graft agencies to seize illicit assets from compromised commissioners and bar paper companies from state procurement. Stolen public money demands total recovery.