SERAP Has Given INEC Seven Days Over 126 Billion Naira
Abuja · Sunday 13 September 2026
SERAP has given INEC seven days to account for more than 126.46 billion naira appropriated for electoral operations and, it says, diverted, lost, mismanaged or otherwise unaccounted for. The demand is in a letter dated 12 September, signed by deputy director Kolawole Oluwadare, and addressed to the commission and its chairman Joash Amupitan.
Where the number comes from matters
Not from SERAP's own investigation. From the 2023 audited report of the Auditor-General of the Federation, published on 7 August 2026. This is the state's own auditor describing the state's own electoral commission, and the organisation is asking for the follow-up that report should already have triggered.
| What the money was appropriated for |
|---|
| Ballot boxes, electoral devices and materials |
| Sensitive materials and result sheets |
| Vehicles and accreditation devices |
| Audit, consultancy and digital archiving services |
Result sheets and accreditation devices are the two rows that decide elections.
The timing is the point
An electoral commission has one asset and it is not money. A commission that cannot say where 126 billion naira went is spending the only asset it has.
INEC published the final list of 2027 presidential candidates yesterday and has spent the week describing its cybersecurity preparations to Microsoft, Google and IFES. Those are forward-looking claims about competence. An unanswered audit query about the last election is a backward-looking claim about the same thing, and it is cheaper to resolve.
What happens if the deadline passes
SERAP says it will go to court. It has done so repeatedly and with mixed results, and a freedom of information suit takes far longer than seven days. The more useful pressure is simply that the questions are now public, itemised, and drawn from a government document nobody has disputed.
Reporting: Channels Television, Vanguard, Politics Nigeria and OsunDefender.
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