The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has filed a lawsuit against the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) over its alleged failure to account for a missing or diverted sum of N55.9 billion meant for election materials used during the 2019 general elections.
The allegation is contained in the latest annual report released by the Auditor-General of the Federation on 9 September 2025.
In the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/38/2026 and filed last Friday at the Federal High Court in Abuja, SERAP is seeking “an order of mandamus to direct and compel INEC to account for the missing or diverted ₦55.9 billion meant to buy smart card readers, ballot papers, and other election materials for the 2019 general elections.”
SERAP is also asking the court to issue “an order of mandamus to direct and compel INEC to disclose the names of all contractors paid the ₦55.9 billion for the procurement of smart card readers, ballot papers, result sheets, and other election materials for the 2019 general elections, including the names of their directors and shareholders.”
According to SERAP, “INEC must operate without corruption if the commission is to ensure free and fair elections in the country and uphold Nigerians’ right to participation.”
The organisation further argued that “INEC cannot ensure impartial administration of future elections if these allegations are not satisfactorily addressed, perpetrators, including the contractors involved, are not prosecuted, and the proceeds of corruption are not fully recovered.”
SERAP stated that “INEC cannot properly carry out its constitutional and statutory responsibilities to conduct free and fair elections in the country if it continues to fail to uphold the basic principles of transparency, accountability and the rule of law.”
It added that “These allegations also constitute abuse of public office and show the urgent need by INEC to commit to transparency, accountability, clean governance and the rule of law.”
SERAP also noted that “Allegations of corruption in the supply of smart card readers, ballot papers, result sheets and other election materials directly undermine Nigerians’ right to participate in elections that are free, fair, transparent, and credible.”
The suit, filed on behalf of SERAP by its lawyers Kolawole Oluwadare, Kehinde Oyewumi, and Andrew Nwankwo, partly reads: “These grim allegations by the Auditor-General suggest a grave violation of the public trust, the Nigerian Constitution 1999 [as amended] and international anticorruption standards.”
The organisation cited the 2022 audited report of the Auditor-General of the Federation, which stated that INEC “‘irregularly paid’ over N5.3 billion [N5,312,238,499.39] ‘to a contractor for the supply of Smart Card Readers for the 2019 general elections.’”
According to the report, “The contract was awarded without prior approval from the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) and the Federal Executive Council. The payment was also made without any documentation. There was no evidence of supplies to the commission.’”
INEC reportedly claimed that approval was unnecessary because “the supply of smart card readers falls under national defence or national security and therefore exempted under the Procurement Act.”
However, the Auditor-General rejected the explanation as “alien to the Procurement Act,” stressing that “INEC ought to have received a Certificate of No Objection from the BPP for the contract.” He expressed concern that the funds “may have been diverted” and recommended recovery and remittance to the treasury.
The report also revealed that INEC “‘paid over N4.5 billion [N4,505,220,044.06] to six contractors for ballot papers/result sheets’, but ‘the payments were without any documentary evidence of supply from the contractors.’”
It further stated that there was “no evidence of advertisement, bid submission, bid evaluation, approvals and no Certificate of No Objection,” as well as “no evidence of the contractors’ eligibility,” including tax clearance, pension clearance, NSITF, ITF compliance certificates, and BPP registration.
The Auditor-General again warned that the money “may have been diverted” and called for its recovery.
INEC was also accused of paying over N331 million “to ‘some contractors in doubtful circumstances as several payments had contradictory supporting documents.’”
One contract for the supply of 25 generating sets was dated 28 December 2019, but the receipt for the payment was issued 12 months before the contract, with contractors allegedly paid even before the award of the contracts.”
INEC justified these actions by claiming they were necessary “to ensure that the 2019 general elections were concluded and to avoid what would have been a deep constitutional crisis,” but the Auditor-General described the response as “unsatisfactory.”
The report also stated that INEC failed to deduct over N2.1 billion in stamp duty between 2018 and 2019. INEC claimed it did not receive “any circular requesting it to deduct stamp duty from contract payments to contractors,” but this explanation was also dismissed as “unsatisfactory.”
Further findings showed that INEC failed to retire over N630 million in cash advances granted to some of its officers, with some officials receiving multiple advances without retiring earlier ones.
Additionally, INEC reportedly “awarded contracts of over N41 billion [N41,312,066,801.00] for the printing of ballot papers, result sheets, and voting point result sheets for various elections” without due process.
The Auditor-General noted that “there was no evidence that the contractors were eligible to carry out such contracts,” adding that some of the companies involved were civil engineering firms, oil and gas companies, and building material importers.
The contracts were allegedly awarded without approval from the Federal Executive Council and without a “No Objection” certificate from the BPP. The Auditor-General again warned that the funds “may have been diverted.”
INEC was also accused of “irregularly awarding a contract for the supply of 4 Toyota Land Cruisers to the Commission for over N297 million [N297,777,776.00],” without Federal Executive Council approval.
The Auditor-General stated that a market survey showed that the price of a Toyota Land Cruiser in 2019 “was not above N50 million,” yet INEC reportedly paid N74 million per vehicle.
Once again, the Auditor-General expressed concern that the funds “may have been diverted” and called for recovery and remittance to the treasury.
No date has been fixed for the hearing of the case.
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