Alhaji Lai Mohammed
INEC is creating tension over APC, says ANPP
The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has said the merging opposition
political parties will not allow any attempt to force them into taking
hasty actions that are not in tune with the country’s electoral laws.
This came as the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) yesterday accused the
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of fuelling political
tension by its move to scuttle the registration of All Progressives
Congress (APC) under the pretext that a largely unknown group had
applied with a similar acronym.
It said the only way the promoters of the APC could have registered
the name before now is to short-circuit the system, like the PDP would
have done.
In a statement issued in Lagos yesterday by its National Publicity
Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said it was disturbing that
the ruling party in Africa’s largest democracy can exhibit such
ignorance or mischief when the legal requirements for a merger are well
spelt out in the Electoral Act.
“But as law-abiding citizens, APC leaders are following the stipulated
conditions to the letter, and will not allow themselves to be stampeded
into committing an illegality. Not even the PDP’s shameless act of
sponsoring a phony party to instigate an acronym war and give an
increasingly partisan INEC a reason not to register the APC will
stampede the party’s promoters,’’ it said.
ACN said the ruling party’s modus operandi is lawlessness, underhand
dealings and opaque transactions, adding that that was why the fortunes
of Nigeria have deteriorated rapidly under their watch.
‘’For the avoidance of doubt, the law does not make any provision for
any group to reserve a name at INEC, and the legal requirements for a
merger do not allow registration until all the stipulated conditions
have been met.
“Applying for registration before the conditions have been met will be
like putting the cart before the horse, and would have been illegal and
irregular.
ACN said in order to educate the ignorant and mischievous PDP, it had decided to quote the requirements for a merger copiously.
“Section 84.(1): ‘Any two or more registered political parties may
merge on approval by the commission following a formal request
presented to the commission by the political parties for that purpose.
Political parties intending to merge shall each give to the commission
90 days notice of their intention to do so before a general election.’
“The written request for merger shall be sent to the chairman of the
commission and shall be signed jointly by the National Chairman,
Secretary and Treasurer for the time being of the different political
parties proposing the merger and shall be accompanied by: “A special
resolution passed by the national convention of each of the political
parties proposing to merger, approving the merger. The proposed full
name and acronym, constitution, manifesto, symbol or logo of the party
together with the addresses of the national office of the party
resulting from the merger; and evidence of payment of administrative
costs of N100,000 or as may be fixed from time to time by an act of the
National Assembly.
On receipt of the request for merger of political parties, the ACN
said the commission was expected to consider the request and, the
parties have fulfilled the requirements of the constitution and this
Act, approve the proposed merger and communicate its decision to the
parties concerned before the expiration of the 30 days from the date of
the receipt of the formal request.
“On the other hand, where the request for the proposed merger is
approved, the commission shall withdraw and cancel the certificates of
registration of all the political parties opting for the merger and
substitute a single certificate of registration in the name of the party
resulting from the merger.
“It is clear from the foregoing that the PDP, in its usual
characteristics, was only playing to the gallery by wrongfully
castigating the leaders of APC. Though the full name, acronym,
constitution, manifesto and logo of the new party are ready, the
component parties have yet to hold their individual conventions to
ratify the merger, hence could not have presented a formal request for
registration to INEC.
‘’We are happy that Nigerians are discerning people, and that the PDP
has given them one more reason to kick the ruling party’s butt in
2015,’’ ACN said.
However, the ANPP said the move was a clear attempt to deflate the
concerted efforts by the major opposition parties in the country to come
together under one umbrella.
In a statement issued yesterday by the party’s National Publicity
Secretary, Chief Emma Eneukwu, ANPP described the current scheme to
register a phantom party, called African Peoples Congress (APC), in
order to have a clash of acronyms with the All Progressives Congress
(APC) as redolent of unpatriotic craftiness and an ill wind that blows
nobody any good.
“With every passing hour, it becomes more glaringly obvious that the
words of General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd), in a recent assertion that the
PDP has merged with INEC, is actually an inconvenient truth,” he said.
Eneukwu said there are a couple of incontrovertible reasons to show the unreasonableness of INEC in this matter.
“Firstly, INEC is a public institution whose paramount obligation is to
serve the interest of the generality of Nigerians and not any
government in power; thus, any body language from the electoral umpire
to depict the contrary is tantamount to deserting the people in favour
of a group of vested interests.
“The APC on February 6, 2013, publicly and officially announced its
birth; days later, on February 28, a lawyer hastily filed a letter of
intent, seeking ‘‘for approval to register African Peoples Congress,
having carried out a search on the proposed name to the effect that no
other political party registered bears same,’’ he said.
He said if INEC arrogates importance and priority to this terse letter
from a vague group over a pronounced political coalition, “one does not
need to dig far to smell a rat”
According to the ANPP spokesman, why would Mr. Kayode Idowu, Chief
Press Secretary to the commission’s chairman, make contradictory
statements in the media.
“Two days ago, it was reported that he urged opposition parties in the
APC to consider a new name and abbreviation to facilitate the
registration of their group as a political party. Then the next day he
denied ever saying that APC should look for a new name.
“Meanwhile, he went ahead to state that ‘‘if it (APC) meets the
requirements of the law, the INEC has no choice but to register it. It
is not INEC’s decision; the law says you must meet conditions 1,2,3,4
and once you do so, whether INEC likes your face or not, you must be
registered.’’
“The pertinent question is, does INEC love the face of the phantom
African Peoples Congress so much that it has already accepted the group
as a political party even without its fulfilling the required law, rules
and regulations; to the extent that INEC desperately tries using the
party as an excuse to truncate the opposition merger.
“Thirdly, is it not puzzling that this same INEC which is currently and
aggressively implementing a policy of deregistering non-performing
political parties, is falling over itself to register a new party which
has no iota of evidence to show that it can function as an association,
not to talk of as a full-fledged political party.
“Which one is more sustainable, the APC of proven politicians with a
teeming national membership or a phantom APC with no single member or
known offices? Talk about an efficient INEC!
“Our great party is worried because Professor Attahiru Jega, in trying
to please the ruling PDP, is heading towards bringing ridicule to his
renowned intellectual pedigree, and in so doing bring our dear country
to ridicule in the comity of nations,” he said.
He said ANPP would like INEC to make recourse to reason, and good
taste. “INEC is not a political association, neither a private venture;
it is a body supposed to stand for the interest of the people at all
times. Our dear country, in these present precarious times, needs its
organs of governance to be patriotic, sensible and fair.
“As a nation, we cannot afford to have emotions whipped up arbitrarily
while making our polity more volatile than it is at present. All over
the world, a general climate of discontent is a catalyst for revolution,
and INEC is currently fanning this embers,” he said.
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