ABOUT three governors of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and former presidents of the country have agreed to fund the newly-formed All Progressives Congress (APC), just as the new party may likely face registration hurdles with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) over its acronym, APC.

Sunday Tribune investigation revealed that though the governors and two former presidents had promised to fund the new party, they would still remain within the ruling party.

It was said this was part of the resolve of some PDP leaders, who were sympathetic to the cause of the newly-formed party, to redesign their support strategy instead of the reports linking them to the rumoured mass defection from the ruling party.

It was specifically reported that a Southern governor had pledged support for the new party while opting to remain within the PDP for safety reasons.

Another North-Central governor was said to have made a similar pledge under an anonymous cover, especially as his interest in real estate sector in Abuja was reported to be under threat.

A former Head of State and a former vice-president were also reported to have met leaders of the new party but with a resolution to financially support rather than join the new party. Two meetings were said to have been held with these two top leaders.

An APC source told Sunday Tribune that most sympathisers of the new party within the PDP were not willing to defect from the ruling party, adding that “reports of imminent defection to our party are not true.

“Most of them are afraid. They promise to support us but they are not ready to leave the PDP. They want to give us money but we are also afraid of them. We don’t want them to hijack the new party, “ the source said.

But the APC, it was revealed, was likely to face registration challenges as its acronym, APC, had been taken by another political party.

Inside sources within the APC told Sunday Tribune that reports from INEC indicated that another party, African Progressive Congress (APC) is already a registered political party which still subsists within the commission‘s registry.

Since another party is already bearing APC, the report indicated that INEC might refuse to register the newly-formed APC unless it changed its name to avoid conflict with the existing registered political party.

As of the time of filing this report, it was not clear who the leaders of the African Progressive Congress were and when the party was registered by the electoral body. The party is, however, not among those deregistered recently by INEC.

Further checks showed that the said African Progressive Congress was in existence all along though some APC insiders were already crying foul, accusing the ruling PDP of being the brain behind the plot.

A very furious APC source in Abuja told Sunday Tribune that “African Progressive Congress was newly-registered with the goal of denying the newly formed APC registration,” accusing the INEC of working in league with the PDP.

“You know General Buhari was right when he said INEC has merged with the PDP. We are seeing the sign now. There is a grand plot to deny us registration and we will resist all attempts in that direction,” the source said.

A Senior Advocate of Nigeria and a former Justice Minister, Prince Adetokunbo Kayode, however, fired back at the insinuations of PDP plotting to stop the new party, declaring that “APC and ADC are registered political parties long before now.

“Why must they shift their problem on PDP? They should have done their home work properly by checking INEC before announcing their name. APC and ADC have always been there as registered political parties. If they did not check with INEC, is that the fault of PDP? Kayode who is also a chieftain of the PDP asked.

The former minister who described APC as “a still-birth baby” said “we are not losing sleep over them and they should face their problem instead of blaming us for their woes.

Further investigations, however, showed that APC leaders are yet to officially approach INEC with their request for registration even though it was learnt that the doubt being raised about registration hurdles emanated from the report of the registration and liaison sub-committee of the party.

The sub-committee which submitted its report last Wednesday was reported to have made preliminary contact with INEC during which the existence of African Progressive Party was discovered. It is not clear yet what the APC leaders will do if INEC finally confirms the need for them to change the name of the new party.


http://www.tribune.com.ng/news2013/index.php/en/component/k2/item/7000-3-pdp-govs-ex-presidents-fund-apc-new-party-faces-registration-hurdles-another-party-already-registered-as-apc

1st to comment??

Another elephant and tortoise story from the stables of Tribune- PDP's media arm on publicity, fabrication, dissimulation, deception and other matters!

On the other "Abracadabra"party with the same acronym as the coalition party, whose leaders are unknown and no knowledge of when it was registered, we know its the hand of PDP with a faceless voice- The desperation of a falling party! The political actors and participants in the coalition party will surely scale the hurdles and the landmines planted by PDP!

this nonsence must have perfected in one amala joint, useless story.

All plans lead to one point.

Political Power they say must return to the North as to keep the South in check.

Nkwame Nkuruma of Ghana foresaw this and made the exertion "Seek ye first political power and every other thing shall be added unto you.

Whether a Northern is in PDP, ACP, ACN, CPC, APGA or DPP. All have the same objective come 2015

All the North is saying, give them Presidential Power for there to be partial peace.

If only the South will be wise and unite to stop this madness, yes I call it total madness.

PDP people are terrible liars. They keep bleating that they are not afraid of APC yet they don go register one counterfeit APC just to screw things up. Well, thank god, letter never finish for alphabet. The real APC should just change its letters. If all sh&t hits the fan, we can even call it the Broom Party. Fee Dee Fee, you don enter one chance for this one ooo. We will turn this country upside down. MR Jonathan, 150 yrs in Kirikiri; Sambo 150 yrs; Doyin Okupe, 200 yrs; 40 lappy dogs, 40 strokes of the cane and 40 yrs each in Maiduguri prison.

Any news from tribune is fabricated or lies,in short fiction

Ngwakwe: All plans lead to one point.

Political Power they say must return to the North as to keep the South in check.

Nkwame Nkuruma of Ghana foresaw this and made the exertion "Seek ye first political power and every other thing shall be added unto you.

Whether a Northern is in PDP, ACP, ACN, CPC, APGA or DPP. All have the same objective come 2015

All the North is saying, give them Presidential Power for there to be partial peace.

If only the South will be wise and unite to stop this madness, yes I call it total madness.

You are "totally" Mad.

What do they hope to achieve with this kind of stories? Trying all sort of means to tarnish the image of APC. Also making attempts to blackmail the PDP governors who are not in support of GEJ's second term. Its obvious the so called southern nd north central governors are Ameachi and Babangida Aliyu.

PDP is really shivering and scared of the rising giant-APC.

rooftech: Any news from tribune is fabricated or lies,in short fiction

Yea, just like The nation newspaper

miiraaj: What do they hope to achieve with this kind of stories? Trying all sort of means to tarnish the image of APC. Also making attempts to blackmail the PDP governors who are not in support of GEJ's second term. Its obvious the so called southern nd north central governors are Ameachi and Babangida Aliyu.

PDP is really shivering and scared of the rising giant-APC.

Dreamer

It is disaster for one to coin a Business name and proceed to make business card and share with the public without consulting with the CAC to ascertain if such name has not been taken. Now do you blame someone else if after making public your new business name before proceeding to CAC ? Only losers play blame game. If they searched for the name and the name was available and went back to register and it was taken, then there would have been reason to criticize. Who would have believed 9 Governors and former President and Lion of Bourdillon arent intelligent enough to do a name search before going public. Is this how they expect to run Nigeria without common sense ? If APC is taken, they should simply go to INEC and search if CHLOROQUIN is still available and take it. Leave myPDP out of this.