How every figure is sourced and checked.

Each item is graded by the kind of source behind it:

• T1Documentary record. Official or primary documents: INEC filings, court records, gazettes, published audited returns.
• T2Corroborated reporting. The same event reported independently by more than one credible outlet.
• T3Accredited field observation. Observation filed by an accredited partner or trained field monitor.
• T4Single-source report or model. A single published report, or a figure produced by the cost model.
• T5Unverified public submission. A public submission not yet corroborated.

1. Collected. News articles are gathered by scheduled ingestion, and members of the public and partners submit reports. Every new item starts as Awaiting review.
2. Reviewed. A reviewer opens the source, confirms it says what the item claims, sets the tier, and marks the item Reviewed or Rejected. The decision, reviewer and time are logged, with a note where needed.
3. Published. Pending items may be listed, always badged “Awaiting review”, but they are excluded from every total. Rejected items are not shown.

When an automated extractor pulls a naira amount from an article, the amount is kept only if the quoted sentence is found in the article text. Allegations are attributed to the outlet that published them, with a link to the article.

Estimated spend = Documented + Modelled (mid-point)

Documented = naira amounts reported in reviewed articles,
             each backed by a quote found in the article
Modelled   = reviewed rallies × rate card, from the
             reported crowd size, shown as a low–high range

The rate card (pfi-rate-card-v1-assumptions) costs the observable logistics of a rally: a fixed staging base of ₦8.5M, plus per-head amounts for amplification, transport, welfare and materials, and security up to a cap. The range runs from 70% to 140% of the central figure. These unit costs are modelling assumptions, not observed prices, and will be replaced by field-collected prices with sources and dates.

Cash handouts are excluded from the model on purpose. A handout is an allegation; it enters the record only as a sourced, reviewed report (see the vote buying tracker, where such conduct is described as something that may engage Electoral Act 2026, s.22(c) and Electoral Act 2026, s.125).

The estimate is a floor: it covers only what has been reported and reviewed. It is not an audit of a campaign's accounts.

• Presidential₦10.0B
• Governorship₦3.0B
• Senatorial₦500M
• House of Representatives₦250M
• State House of Assembly₦100M
• Area Council Chairmanship₦100M
• Area Council Councillorship₦10.0M
• Party primariesNo ceiling applied

Source: Electoral Act 2026, s.92(2)–(7). Donor cap: ₦500M per individual or entity (Electoral Act 2026, s.92(8)). The Electoral Act 2026 repealed the Electoral Act 2022; figures for the 2023 cycle are under Electoral Act 2022 (repealed), s.88.

Related provisions:

• Electoral Act 2026, s.92(9) — A candidate who exceeds the limit commits an offence.
• Electoral Act 2026, s.93 — Parties file audited election-expense returns with INEC within 6 months of the election, publish them in two national newspapers and online; INEC keeps them open for public inspection, including donor details (s.93(8)).
• Electoral Act 2026, s.94 — No anonymous donations; contributions above ₦100m must be recorded with the donor's details; a contributions report is due within 3 months of results.

Where an estimate is above the ceiling we say “estimated spending exceeds the statutory ceiling”. That is a prompt for questions, not a finding that any law was broken.

Anyone named on this site, and anyone who spots an error, can ask for a correction or submit a reply. We review every request, correct errors promptly, and publish replies alongside the item concerned.

Write to igatajohn15@gmail.com with a link to the page and the item concerned.

PFI does not adjudicate the law or allege criminality. Final findings belong to INEC, the courts and the Nigerian public. Figures are estimates built from published reporting and a cost model. They are not findings that any law was broken. Each figure links to its source. To report an error, use the correction link on the page.