The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said tracking of campaign finances of political parties by the commission was not meant to witch hunt any individual or group.
The INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner in Osun, Prof. Abdulganiyu Raji stated this on Friday in Osogbo, during a sensitisation workshop for political parties in Osun on campaign finance tracking, ahead of the governorship election on July 16.
Raji said that the workshop was to sensitise political parties and their governorship candidates on how to track their campaign finances.
“One of the mandates of INEC, apart from the conduct of elections, is to track the finances of political parties with a view to knowing how good they are faring, as far as their finances are concerned, in addition to be able to assist them in planning for their activities.
“Tracking finances of political parties is not for witch-hunting. It is for better understanding of the financial activities of the parties.
“What we do is track the campaign finances (inflow and outflow) and report to appropriate quarters in INEC.” he said
The REC said that the commission had earlier organised a similar training for some of its senior staff in the state before the one organised for the parties and their candidates.
“Today, we are not tracking the finances of these political parties. We are actually taking them through the processes and procedures and all the necessary technics that they will need to track their own finances.
“While they are doing it on their own, we will also be doing our own independently.
“We, at INEC, submit our report to the appropriate quarters, but for political parties, in addition to submitting their reports to us, they will also be able to use it for planning their activities.
“And I believe, if they pay attention at today’s workshop, it will be of benefit to them.” he said
Raji further said that the campaign financial tracking workshop was usually organised for political parties and candidates before every election (NAN)
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