Former head of state, Major General Muhammadu Buhari
•PDP denies sponsoring African Peoples Congress' registration
By Chuks Okocha and Onyebuchi Ezigbo
There is a high probability that the opposition coalition party, the
All Progressives Congress (APC), might not be registered in its present
form by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), following
the discovery that another party, African Peoples Congress (APC), with
the same abbreviation, has already applied to the commission for
registration.
The commission said Sunday that it would not register two parties with
the same abbreviation, adding that presently, it had no application
before it for the registration of the opposition parties’ APC.
Speaking to THISDAY on the issue, the Chief Press Secretary to INEC,
Mr. Kayode Idowu, therefore urged the opposition parties to consider
finding a new name and abbreviation to facilitate the registration of
their coalition party.
However, the identity crisis is expected to be tackled tomorrow, as
leaders of opposition parties are billed to meet in Abuja to fashion out
an appropriate response to the controversy of the coalition party’s
identity.
INEC Monday defended its neutrality in the party registration process,
stating that the process is conducted on a first-come, first-serve
basis.
It explained that the opposition parties’ APC was not known to the
commission, as it was yet to submit registration documents.
The commission explained that the implication of the African Peoples
Congress submitting its documents first for registration as a political
party is that the opposition parties’ APC must change its name and
abbreviation to avoid confusion.
The commission also refused to take up issues with former head of
state, Major General Muhammadu Buhari, who had accused INEC of being in
cahoots with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and of being a cesspool
of corruption.
Idowu told THISDAY that the commission would not comment on what Buhari
said penultimate week and in London last week about the commission.
He explained that one of the guidelines for the registration of
political parties is that groups or bodies with similar names,
addresses, logos and acronyms must not be registered.
According to him, the reason the commission avoided the registration of
political parties with similar names and acronyms was aimed at
forestalling confusion and violence during electioneering.
Idowu said the African Peoples Congress, which had approached the
commission for registration as a political party since last week, shared
the same abbreviation with the opposition parties’ APC.
“We don’t encourage political parties with similar names, manifestos,
logos and acronyms and this is aimed at avoiding confusion between
registered political parties with similar names and acronyms,” he added.
Citing a previous instance, Idowu said: “When Chekwas Okorie wanted to
register a new political party with the name United Progressive Grand
Alliance (UPGA), we objected to it because this was similar to the All
Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and UPGA had to be rejected until he
and his colleagues came up with the name United Progressive Party (UPP)
and it was registered.”
Idowu also said that as far as INEC was concerned, “The All
Progressives Congress (APC) is not known to the commission. There is no
application before INEC suggesting that they have applied for
registration before the commission.
“We operate on verifiable records and therefore for the record, the APC
of the All Progressives Congress is still alien and unknown to INEC as
an election management body.”
A national commissioner with INEC, who asked for anonymity, also ruled
out the registration of the opposition parties’ APC.
He said: “There is no way that APC of the All Progressives Congress
would be registered. It has run foul of the guidelines. The guidelines
said that groups or bodies seeking registration as political parties
must avoid using similar names, constitutions, logos and acronyms and
from the records, the group seeking to register the African Peoples
Congress APC) have registered the acronym.
“The only way out for the other group seeking to register the All
Progressives Congress is to look for another name, because the
abbreviation, APC, belongs to the African Peoples Congress. There is no
need playing to the gallery on the matter.”
In reaction to the development, leaders of the opposition parties will
meet Wednesday in Abuja to resolve the identity crisis.
The meeting of the chairmen of the merger committees of the coalition
parties will be held in Abuja and will be preceded by top-level
consultations among the APC leadership.
THISDAY had exclusively reported last Friday of the apprehension of the
merging parties over an alleged plot to frustrate the registration of
APC by the PDP.
But the ruling party denied the plot Monday, saying it was not behind
the bid to register the African Peoples Congress.
The opposition had alleged a plot to get INEC to register the African
Peoples Congress to frustrate the registration of the All Progressives
Congress on the grounds that both parties possess similar abbreviations.
A source confided in THISDAY that one of the people involved in the
registration of the controversial African Peoples Congress is one Mr.
Chinedu Samuel Nwokoye of Leather World Chambers with offices in Wuse,
Zone 5 in Abuja.
However, at the time of filing this report, THISDAY was unable to trace
the person or office said to be associated with the African Peoples
Congress.
But another source in INEC confirmed to THISDAY Monday night that the
commission was yet to undertake verification of claims contained in the
application form of the African Peoples Congress.
The source said the commission's verification exercise will seek to
establish those behind the formation of the party, its offices and all
the other requirements necessary for registering a party.
It was gathered that even though the opposition leaders got wind of the
plot to frustrate the registration of the coalition party before
arriving at its name, they went ahead to approve its name, logo and
slogan.
Irrespective, most of the leaders of the opposition coalition who spoke
to THISDAY Monday expressed the belief that INEC would not do anything
that would jeopardise the registration of their APC.
The party leaders said even if it meant taking the commission to the
court of public opinion, they were prepared to do so to ensure that All
Progressives Congress retained its identity.
Reacting to the development, the National Publicity Secretary of the
Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), one of the constituent parties in
the coalition, Mr. Rotimi Fashakin, alleged that the plan was meant to
frustrate the merger of the opposition parties by PDP and its agents.
He said the plan had failed to achieve its ultimate goal, adding that
the original intention of the plot was to ambush the merger parties at
the point when they must have spent time, energy and money trying to
meet all the registration requirements.
Fashakin explained that it was left for INEC to allay the fears of
opposition leaders over accusations of working in alliance with the PDP.
He said: “If INEC goes ahead to ignore the concerns of the APC leaders
and allows the registration of the phantom party, African Peoples
Congress, then it would have confirmed what our leader, General
Muhammadu Buhari, had said about the unholy alliance between the
commission and the ruling party.”
But another APC stalwart told THISDAY that the sudden appearance of
another party with the same acronym with APC would not stop the merger.
He said the merger committees were set up to come up with an
appropriate response to the identity crisis.
The party chieftain said what was important was not the name but the
will power of the opposition to surmount all obstacles to emerge
victorious at the 2015 elections.
A member of the CPC merger committee, Mr. Osita Okechukwu, also
described the planned displacement of APC as a non-issue.
Okechukwu told THISDAY that the merging parties expect INEC to be fair
and not to been seen to be colluding with any group to frustrate the
opposition merger.
According to him, INEC was fully aware of the formation of APC and all
the efforts to actualise the merger by the opposition parties in the
country.
“As far as we are concerned, there was no application from another
party on the table of INEC before the February 6 when APC was formed.
INEC is in a position to stop the promoters of the evil plot from
causing confusion and necessary tension in the polity,” he added.
He explained that the opposition parties had last week written
separately to INEC indicating their interest to merge under APC.
“There is no law that does not have content of morality and truth
embedded it. The African Peoples Congress does not have offices in
Abuja.
“We challenge INEC to release the names of those behind the new party
so that the whole world will know whether they are PDP members or not,”
he said.
Another constituent party in the APC, the Action Congress of Nigeria
(ACN) had warned that if INEC refused to register the coalition party
after meeting all the legal requirements, the protest in Tahrir Square
in Egypt would be child's play in comparison to what they would organise
at the Eagle Square, Abuja.
But the National Publicity Secretary of PDP, Olisa Metuh, told THISDAY
that the party would not stoop so low to front a counter to the All
Progressives Congress.
He said: “PDP is totally unaware of the status of the APC registration.
We are unconcerned and completely unperturbed. In the words of our
Board of Trustees chairman ‘we wish them well’.
“PDP cannot be held liable for any negligence and/or incompetence on
the part of our grossly inferior opponents.”
No comments:
Post a Comment