• ACN faults INEC's claim, accuses agency of connivance with PDP
• Buhari's, Tinubu's coalition gets more supporters in Kwara, S'East
AMID claims and counter-claims over application for the registration of the African Peoples Congress (APC) and the All Progressives' Congress (APC), the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) Tuesday faulted the position of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The All Progressives' Congress (APC) specifically accused INEC of manipulating facts by claiming that the African Peoples Congress had applied to the commission for registration.
Also, the Lagos State chapter of the ACN has said that the INEC leadership is corrupt, partisan, hugely compromised and therefore cannot organise the 2015 general election.
The party called for the implementation of the Justice Muhammadu Uwais Electoral Reform Panel recommendations, especially as regards the National Judicial Council's constitution of an independent and impartial INEC leadership to organise credible elections in Nigeria.
In a statement by the Lagos State Publicity Secretary of the ACN, Joe Igbokwe, the party said the connivance of the INEC leadership with the PDP was not surprising to Nigerians who were aware of the complicit role the INEC leadership had been playing to further the interest of the PDP.
"We are shocked that the Jega-led INEC should indulge in such brazen, dirty and inordinate tricks as stealing in a fraudulent registration for a 'shadowy' political party for the purpose of denying the APC its just registration...", the party said.
Besides, the All Progressives' Congress (APC) yesterday said it had received applications of over 20,000 members of the PDP who had signified their interest in joining the newly-formed political party in Kwara State.
According to spokesman of the state's chapter of the APC, Kayode Olawepo, at a press briefing yesterday in Ilorin, the PDP members, "especially those of the same ideologies with the APC", would "very soon" be presented to the public.
But the state Secretary of the PDP, Yemi Afolayan, in an interview with The Guardian encouraged the APC to publish the names and addresses of the PDP members who had filed in their applications, "in order to confirm or authenticate their claims."
The All Progressives' Congress (APC), South-East, said yesterday that the zone had embraced the new platform as a result of the failure of the PDP to address the infrastructural imbalance in the country.
In a statement issued in Enugu by its Publicity Secretary, Osita Okechukwu, APC said it was outraged by a recent statement credited to Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu where he described as "madness", moves by the South-East to identify with the merger of parties.
But the Adamawa State ruling PDP chairman, Mr. Joe Madaki, has commended the merger of opposition political parties, pointing out that the formation of APC would make the PDP to deliver democracy dividends to Nigerians.
Madaki, who spoke yesterday in Yola during the inaugural meeting of his executive and kick-off of sale of forms for the House of Assembly by-election in Mayo-Belwa, the Constituency of Governor Murtala Nyako, said the merger of the political parties should be seen from a constructive, rather than a negative point of view.
In a statement issued in Abuja by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the ACN said INEC's claim, as articulated by Mr. Kayode Idowu, the spokesman for the Chairman, was not supported by the relevant sections of the Electoral Act regulating the registration of a political party.
According to ACN, the truth of the matter is that no party today with the acronym APC has applied to INEC to be registered, adding that "even phantom African Peoples Congress - which is being sponsored by the PDP to lay claim to the acronym - has only written a letter of intent, which has not even been discussed by INEC, not to talk of the commission taking any decision on it."
It continued: ''The statement credited to Mr. Idowu is therefore reckless and provocative and clearly betrays INEC as truly having merged with the PDP to frustrate the merger of the progressives under the banner of the All Progressives' Congress (APC). One wonders who the spokesman is speaking for and what interest he represents. He should therefore be called to order before he sets the country ablaze.''
The party said in order to debunk INEC's claim that the African Peoples Congress had applied for registration, it was calling the attention of all the good people of Nigeria to the sections of the Electoral Act that are relevant to party registration:
• Part V Political Parties of the Electoral Act, Section 78 (1) says: "A political association that complies with the provision of the Constitution and this Act for the purposes of registration shall be registered as a political party, provided that such application shall be duly submitted to the commission not later than 6 months before a general election."
Section 78 (2) says: "The Commission shall on receipt of the documents in fulfilment of the conditions stipulated by the Constitution immediately issue the applicant with a letter of
acknowledgement stating that all necessary documents have been submitted to the Commission."
The ACN said: ''In this case, the applicants on behalf of the phantom African Peoples Congress, the clients of Legal World Chambers, have not submitted any of the documents stipulated by the Constitution to the Commission. They have only written a letter of intent and therefore INEC could not have issued them any letter of acknowledgement, not to talk of starting the process of verifying the documents
''At this point, they cannot even be regarded as applicants. Why then did INEC through its spokesperson gleefully go to the media to proclaim that another political association has applied to be registered as African Peoples Congress using the same acronym APC?
Clearly, INEC is on a mission of mischief and its paymaster is PDP who has been having sleepless nights since the merger arrangement was announced.''
The party further called attention to Section 78 (6) of the Electoral Act, which says: "An application for registration as a political party shall not be processed unless there is evidence of payment of administrative fee as may be fixed from time to time by the Commission."
The ACN said it was aware that the applicants in question had not even paid any administrative fees and therefore INEC could not have started processing their application because there was no application before INEC as they had only written a letter of intent.
''The INEC spokesperson who announced to the world that another political association has applied to be registered as APC is therefore definitely being paid by the PDP to mislead Nigerians, subvert extant regulations and scuttle the proposed merger of the ACN, ANPP, APGA and CPC. He should immediately be called to order before he sets the country ablaze,'' the party said.
It said what had emerged over the registration issue was that INEC was collaborating with the PDP to stampede the merging parties to commit errors and also intimidate them to drop the acronym APC.
But ACN said: ''This has failed because as of today in accordance with the provisions of Section 78 (2) and Section 78 (6) of the Electoral Act as explained above, there is no applicant on record for the acronym APC, contrary to the deceit being spread by the INEC spokesman."
The ACN also said that INEC had had a constructive knowledge of the merger plan and the existence of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for a long time, going by statements credited to the INEC spokesman both in the print and the electronic media.
On February 17, 2013, Idowu was quoted to have said in The Punch of that date that the All Progressives' Congress (APC) remained a political association, even though it was yet to be recognised by the commission.
"By law, we do not expect APC to come to INEC. The political parties that are fusing into another party will individually and respectively come back to INEC, notifying us that they are fusing into a party with a new identity,'' ACN quoted Idowu to have said.
''The same Idowu also told TVC news on February 8, 2013, that INEC was expecting the leadership of the All Progressives' Congress to apply for formal documentation. With these statements, it is clear that INEC has always had a constructive knowledge of the All Progressives' Congress (APC) since the merger plan started, and that the emerging party did not have to do anything until all the component parties have held their conventions and ratified the constitution, manifesto and logo of the APC.
''We are therefore using this medium to assure the millions of our supporters within and outside Nigeria that there is no cause for alarm. The merger process is on course. The All Progressives' Congress that is the legitimate people's APC will berth safely and deliver Nigerians from the oppressive yoke of the PDP.
''We also wish to seize this opportunity to thank the thousands of concerned Nigerians who through text messages and e-mails have overwhelmed us with their advice and words of encouragement in the last two days.
Your support has been invaluable to us and we shall not let you down," the party said.
It, however, called for vigilance on the part of all progressive forces across the country, "especially because we have it on good authority that a top official of INEC has boasted that the emergence of the All Progressives' Congress (APC) will be frustrated at all costs.''
''Also, while the PDP has been quick to say it is not bothered by the coming together of the progressive forces, it has been having sleepless nights and working round the clock to devise measures to sabotage the merger. The plan to set up the phantom African Peoples Congress to create an acronym war is just a tip of the iceberg. In the days ahead, Nigerians should watch out for more devilish plans by the PDP. But we are comforted by the fact that the forces of darkness have never prevailed over the forces of light,'' ACN said.
The Guardian
This controversy is enough already. It has to cease right about now
I just hope all this would be over very soon. It must come to an end