A report by Kimpact Development Initiative (KDI), a civil society organisation that advances good governance, democratic rights, public policy and public engagement, has revealed that candidates and political parties spent over N19.6 billion during the 2025 Anambra off-cycle governorship election.

The report, titled: “Key Lessons from the 2025 Anambra Governorship Election,” was presented in Abuja at an Election Integrity Summit organised by the organisation.

Presenting the findings, the KDI executive director, Bukola Idowu, said the election also recorded irregularities such as mismatched voter figures, arithmetic errors in vote tabulation, missing or unrecorded ballots and cases of over-voting.

According to the report, the group deployed 50 community-based monitors between June and November 2025 and used a Parallel Estimation Technique to track campaign spending, election-day mobilisation, third-party involvement and inducement patterns.

Findings showed that N8.89 billion was spent on campaign activities, while N10.9 billion went into election-day expenses.

The report identified the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Labour Party and the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the top spenders.

The APGA and its candidate Charles Soludo led with over N3.4 billion, followed by Labour Party and its candidate, George Moghalu with N2.3 billion, while the APC and its candidate Nicholas Ukachukwu spent N1.9 billion.

The report noted that the spending by the major contenders exceeded the N1 billion limit stipulated in the Electoral Act 2022, and urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to strengthen the monitoring of campaign finances.

KDI also found that 42 per cent of total election spending was made by third parties.

On election management, the report recorded discrepancies in voter figures across different INEC data sources, noting that 412 polling units had mismatched voter numbers on Form EC8A.

It also identified arithmetic errors in vote tabulation in 635 polling units, 13,428 missing ballots and cases of overvoting in 443 polling units, affecting 53,666 votes.

Idowu said although the irregularities did not alter the election result because the margin of victory exceeded 300,000 votes, they raised concerns about accountability and electoral integrity.

The report also documented 31 incidents of electoral violence between January and November 2025 and 35 cases on election day, with Oyi and Njikoka local government areas recording the highest incidents.

Speaking at the summit, Senior Governance Adviser at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, Chris Okeke, urged stakeholders to translate the findings into reforms ahead of the 2027 general elections.

Also speaking, the Anambra Resident Electoral Commissioner, Queen-Elizabeth Agwu called for stronger collaboration among stakeholders and encouraged citizens to report electoral irregularities.

In his keynote address, the chairperson of the Africa Electoral Justice Network (AEJN), Judge Boissie Henry Mbha, called for the strengthening of Nigeria’s electoral ecosystem to ensure credible, transparent and accountable elections, emphasising the broader impact of Nigeria’s democracy on West Africa. (Weekend Trust)