Professor Pat Utomi, a member of the Movement for Credible Elections, has called for criminal sanctions, including imprisonment, for politicians who divert public resources to finance election campaigns.
Utomi made the call during an interview with ARISE News while discussing Nigeria’s electoral system and the challenges confronting opposition parties ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The political economist criticised the use of government resources to gain political advantage, arguing that public funds should not be deployed to finance campaigns or secure political power.
According to him, access to state resources has become a major advantage in Nigerian politics, putting parties outside government at a significant disadvantage during elections.
“One day I would like to see politicians go to jail for spending public money to run for office,” Utomi said.
Describing the practice as “thievery” and “criminality”, he argued that diverting public resources for political campaigns amounts to an abuse of government funds.
“It’s thievery, it is. Criminality, but they do it,” he said.
Utomi also identified the inability of opposition parties to deploy polling agents nationwide as another major challenge during elections.
He said parties that lack enough agents to monitor polling units could be vulnerable to discrepancies in the recording and verification of results.
“A party that can’t have agents in all of the polling stations in the country is vulnerable to having results written where they are not present,” he said.
However, he said opposition parties could reduce the challenge through collaboration and the sharing of resources.
Utomi further called for greater voter awareness, saying citizens must understand the importance of their votes and participate actively in elections.
He also advocated the increased use of technology in election monitoring, including body cameras and live streaming from polling units, as measures that could improve transparency in the electoral process.
