The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has called on the 19 presidential candidates announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to publicly declare their assets and liabilities ahead of the 2027 presidential election.
SERAP also urged the candidates to disclose relevant financial interests of their spouses and unmarried children under 18, where applicable, as well as the legitimate sources of significant assets.
The organisation made the demands in an open letter dated August 8, 2026, signed by its Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare.
Among the candidates listed by SERAP are incumbent President Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Atiku Abubakar of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Peter Obi of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Sandy Onor of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Omoyele Sowore of the African Action Congress (AAC), Donald Duke of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), and Seyi Makinde of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM).
SERAP said candidates seeking the country’s highest elected office should voluntarily adopt higher standards of transparency and accountability rather than limiting themselves to the minimum legal requirements.
The organisation argued that public disclosure of assets before the election would enable Nigerians to identify potential conflicts of interest, scrutinise candidates’ sources of wealth and establish a baseline for assessing any significant changes in their assets if elected.
It said Nigerians should be able to make their electoral choices based on candidates’ policies, competence, integrity and vision rather than their financial capacity.
SERAP further called on all the candidates to publicly reject vote-buying and electoral bribery and direct their campaign organisations, agents and supporters not to offer money, gifts, food, transportation benefits or other incentives in exchange for votes.
The organisation cited provisions of the 1999 Constitution and the Electoral Act 2026, arguing that vote-buying undermines citizens’ constitutional right to freely determine who governs them.
According to SERAP, economic hardship and poverty make vote-buying particularly harmful because they expose vulnerable citizens to financial inducements that could turn their political rights into commercial transactions.
The organisation also urged the presidential candidates to report credible allegations of vote-buying involving their campaign structures to the appropriate authorities and commit to updating their asset declarations if elected.
SERAP further called on the candidates to sign and publish a public integrity pledge committing themselves, their political parties and campaign organisations to peaceful, transparent and corruption-free elections.
It maintained that the 2027 election should provide an opportunity for political leaders to demonstrate that public office is a public trust and that Nigerians deserve a choice based on ideas, competence and integrity rather than wealth and electoral inducements.
