No fewer than 146 candidates currently in the race for the 2027 presidential and governorship elections could collectively spend up to N571bn under the campaign expenditure limits prescribed by the Electoral Act 2026.

The figure comprises 19 presidential candidates, each with a campaign spending ceiling of N10bn, and 127 governorship candidates, each allowed to spend a maximum of N3bn under Section 92 of the new Electoral Act.

The 19 presidential candidates alone have a combined spending ceiling of N190bn, while the 127 governorship candidates could collectively spend up to N381bn.

The combined ceiling for the two categories therefore stands at N571bn, although the amount represents the maximum permissible expenditure and not money guaranteed to, or actually received by the candidates.

The development comes as the Independent National Electoral Commission published the personal particulars and credentials of the 19 presidential candidates and their running mates ahead of the 2027 poll, paving the way for the commencement of the presidential campaign on Wednesday, August 19, 2026.

According to the election tracker NGelections.com, 127 candidates across 28 states will be running for governor in 2027. Of the number, 122 have been nominated, four have declared, and one is still being monitored.

A check on the INEC website showed that the commission had yet to publish the total number of 2027 governorship candidates, with its official 2027 election page stating under the list of candidates that “This will be available soon.”

INEC has confirmed that governorship elections will be held in 28 states in 2027, with Anambra, Bayelsa, Edo, Ekiti, Imo, Kogi, Ondo and Osun excluded because they are on the off-cycle schedule.

The commission had fixed January 16, 2027, for the presidential and National Assembly elections, while the governorship and State House of Assembly elections are scheduled for February 6, 2027.

New spending limits

Section 92 of the Electoral Act 2026 substantially raises the amount candidates are permitted to spend on election campaigns compared with the previous statutory limits.

Under the new law, a presidential candidate may spend up to N10bn, while a governorship candidate is limited to N3bn.

For the National Assembly, the ceiling is N500m for a senatorial candidate and N250m for a House of Representatives candidate.

A candidate seeking election to a State House of Assembly may spend up to N100m, the same ceiling prescribed for an Area Council chairmanship candidate, while the maximum campaign expenditure for an Area Council councillorship election is N10m.

The law also places a ceiling on individual contributions to candidates, providing that no individual donor may contribute more than N500m to a single candidate.

Section 92 further provides sanctions for candidates who knowingly exceed the prescribed limits.

Such a candidate faces a fine equivalent to one per cent of the permitted expenditure limit, or imprisonment for up to 12 months, or both.

The provision makes compliance with the new spending thresholds a statutory obligation rather than a voluntary guideline.

The PUNCH could not confirm if INEC has successfully prosecuted and secured a conviction against a Nigerian politician specifically for exceeding the statutory election/campaign spending limit.

Also, there is no reported case of a politician or party being prosecuted for exceeding campaign-spending limits.

When asked how INEC would enforce the spending limits, the INEC National Commissioner and Chairman Information/Voter Education Committee, Mohammed Haruna, simply stated, ‘’It’s the Commission’s statutory responsibility to monitor the campaign finance of all political parties.’’ The anti-graft agencies are expected to collaborate with the INEC in monitoring and enforcing the spending limits.

The restriction on individual donations means that while a presidential candidate can spend as much as N10bn, a single donor cannot contribute more than N500m.

Similarly, a governorship candidate’s N3bn spending ceiling is six times the maximum individual donation.

Presidential race

The presidential race features incumbent President Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress; former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar of the African Democratic Congress; and former Anambra State Governor Peter Obi of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, among 16 other candidates.

INEC’s published list includes 19 presidential candidates and their running mates, with the commission making their personal information and credentials available for public scrutiny in accordance with the Electoral Act.

The field also includes PDP candidate Sandy Onor, African Action Congress candidate Omoyele Sowore, Peoples Redemption Party candidate Donald Duke, Social Democratic Party candidate Adewole Adebayo and Allied Peoples Movement candidate Seyi Makinde.

Other candidates are from the National Democratic Party, Young Progressives Party, Action Alliance, Boot Party, Democratic Liberty Alliance, Zenith Labour Party, Labour Party, National Rescue Movement, Action Democratic Party, New Nigeria Peoples Party and Action Peoples Party.

With each presidential candidate permitted to spend up to N10bn, the 19-man field represents a theoretical campaign expenditure ceiling of N190bn.

127 governorship candidates

At the state level, the number of candidates is considerably higher. The latest election data currently tracks 127 governorship candidates from 18 political parties across the 28 states scheduled to hold governorship elections in 2027.

The APC and PDP have the largest number of candidates, with 28 each, followed by the ADC with 21, Labour Party with 16 and NDC with nine.

The SDP has six candidates, while APM, PRP and Accord have three each. Other parties have a smaller number of candidates.

At N3bn per candidate, the 127 governorship candidates have a collective statutory spending ceiling of N381bn. When added to the N190bn available to the 19 presidential candidates, the potential maximum expenditure rises to N571bn.

The figure should not, however, be interpreted as an indication that N571bn will actually be spent during the campaigns. It represents the aggregate amount that the candidates could lawfully spend if each candidate reached the maximum permitted under Section 92.

CSOs raise concerns

Civil society organisations warned that the effectiveness of the new campaign spending limits will depend largely on enforcement, monitoring and the willingness of political actors to obey the law.

The Executive Director of the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre, Auwal Musa Rafsanjani, said the major challenge was not the existence of spending limits, but the ability and willingness of electoral authorities and political parties to enforce them.

He stated, “The law is very clear; political parties or candidates are not expected to go beyond certain thresholds. But looking at the amount and looking at the capacity to impose this, it is very doubtful because the people that will help support and host this are not likely to comply with this.

“If the ruling party members will not comply with this, then it becomes difficult for INEC to take appropriate action against other political parties. So it is important that all the ruling party and opposition political parties, and other stakeholders, sit down and have a good understanding of what is feasible, what is possible, and that everyone should abide by that.”

Rafsanjani urged the media and civil society to expose candidates and political parties that violate campaign finance regulations, arguing that INEC could not achieve compliance alone.

On his part, the Executive Director of the Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership, Debo Adeniran, said monitoring campaign expenditure would require cooperation between INEC, the media, civil society organisations and anti-corruption agencies.

“If INEC wants to monitor, they will need the help of the rest of us. Those of you in the media and those of us in civil society have roles to play. We are supposed to document what constitutes adverts, what constitutes procurements for each of the candidates.

“Media houses should set up teams that will monitor adverts both in the print and electronic media, as well as social media. All of these have costs that are verifiable. Billboard costs can be monitored. Television adverts can be monitored. Newspaper adverts can be monitored. Social media can also be monitored.”

Adeniran also pointed out that financial transactions, campaign staff payments, billboards, posters, campaign venues and other major expenditure could be monitored through existing financial and technological systems.

He advocated lower spending limits and tougher sanctions, including possible deregistration of parties and disqualification of candidates who violate the rules.

“It will give a level playing field if the limit of how far you can go in your campaign spending is imposed on all the candidates and their political parties, with a threat that whoever violates such rules and regulations will be deregistered,” he said.

The Country Director, ActionAid Nigeria, Andrew Mamedu, affirmed that campaign spending limits were necessary to prevent wealthy candidates from effectively buying political positions.

He said, “Campaign limits and campaign funding are needed for several reasons. The major reason is to ensure that candidates do not just come and buy positions, and spend so much resources to the detriment of other candidates that might not have similar resources.”

Mamedu said the major challenge remained how campaign spending would be measured, noting that INEC lacked the capacity to adequately track expenditure.

He called for legal reforms, stronger sanctions and a dedicated mechanism for tracking political party finances.

The country director said sanctions should be strong enough to serve as a deterrent, including banning politicians or political parties that breach spending limits from contesting elections for at least two electoral cycles.

Mamedu also warned that excessive campaign spending could deepen corruption because wealthy politicians and their financiers could expect contracts and other benefits in return for their support.

He said the huge resources deployed during campaigns could give an incumbent an unfair advantage over other contestants, while also discouraging people without substantial financial backing from seeking elective office.

NBC warns media

The campaign finance debate comes as the National Broadcasting Commission warned broadcasters, online publishers, bloggers and other participants in Nigeria’s information ecosystem against using their platforms to spread misinformation, hate speech, inflammatory material and other content capable of undermining peaceful elections.

The warning followed the commencement of political campaigns for the 2027 presidential and National Assembly elections on Wednesday.

In a statement released by Moses Jolayemi, Technical Adviser to the NBC Director-General, Charles Ebuebu, the commission said the commencement of campaigns placed an even greater responsibility on information disseminators to uphold accuracy, fairness, professionalism and responsibility.

The NBC directed broadcasters to ensure fair, balanced and equitable political coverage and warned against using their platforms to promote or suppress particular political parties, candidates or political viewpoints.

It also cautioned against presenting unverified political claims, allegations, statistics or assertions as facts.

According to the statement, ‘’Allegations involving corruption, criminality, electoral manipulation, misconduct and other issues capable of damaging the reputation of individuals or institutions must be subjected to appropriate editorial verification before being broadcast. The right of reply must be respected where a person or organisation has been genuinely misrepresented.’’

The NBC further cautioned presenters, anchors, reporters, producers and hosts of political programmes against allowing personal political views to be presented as facts.

The NBC warned presenters, anchors, reporters, producers and hosts against presenting personal political views as facts, intimidating guests, suppressing opposing viewpoints or manipulating discussions in favour of particular political interests.

It said responsibility for what goes on air remains with the broadcaster, including material introduced by guests, callers and panellists during live or interactive programmes.

The commission also directed broadcasters to maintain accurate records showing the dates, programmes and duration of political airtime allocated to parties and candidates.

It stressed that political advertising must remain clearly distinguishable from news, editorial content, analysis and independent programming and must comply with the Nigeria Broadcasting Code.

Of particular concern to the commission was the use of broadcast, digital and social media platforms to spread inflammatory and divisive political content.

The NBC warned against content capable of inciting violence, promoting hatred, threatening public order or deepening ethnic, religious, regional or political divisions.

It also cautioned broadcasters and other information disseminators against spreading election results or projections from unofficial sources.

The commission said collated figures from polling stations, exit polls and other unofficial sources must not be used to project or speculate on which candidate was leading or likely to win.

Election results and declarations of winners, it stressed, should only be broadcast as announced by the duly authorised electoral officer.

The NBC said its monitoring of political broadcasts would be intensified throughout the electioneering period, covering paid political advertisements, news bulletins, current affairs programmes, debates, phone-ins, interviews, commentaries, sponsored programmes, live broadcasts and other political content.

It also urged online publishers, bloggers, social media commentators and other content creators to exercise the highest degree of responsibility in the interest of national peace and democratic stability. (PUNCH)

Update news