No New Party Listed On INEC Website
CONTROVERSY over the emergence of
African Peoples Congress and others
using the acronym ‘APC’ got messier Saturday
with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)
disowning its promotion.
Rather, the ruling party accused the opposition
Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) of creating
the body and similar ones to attract sympathy
from the public.
This is coming, as the Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC) has not listed any
new political party on its website, signifying
that the commission has not registered the
controversial APC or any other one for that
matter.
The website has only the 25 names of the
political parties (one of them registered only in
November 2012) that survived its deregistration
hammer of 28 parties on December 6, 2012.
The PDP has been under fire from the merging
All Progressives Congress (APC) since the
appearance of the shadowy African Peoples
Congress, which also uses the ellipsis, ‘APC’.
The merger parties had alleged that the PDP
and the Presidency, working hand in glove with
the Independent National Electoral Commission
(INEC), were complicit in the formation of the
mysterious APC, and its application to the
commission for registration as a political party.
The emergence of another abridged All
Patriotic Citizens (APC) on Thursday, even as
the rival African Peoples Congress was
unveiling its national headquarters, logo,
manifesto and constitution to the public, added
to the confusion that had seized the polity in the
past weeks.
Although the All Patriotic Citizens, which also
unveiled its documents and secretariat in
Abuja, said it was withdrawing its application to
INEC, thus leaving two ‘APCs’ on the laps of the
commission, the PDP said the ACN was
responsible for the crisis rocking the merger
arrangement of some opposition parties.
In a statement by its National Publicity
Secretary, Mr. Olisa Metuh, in Abuja, the PDP
also dismissed as untrue, speculation that it was
behind the formation of the African Peoples
Congress, to create an acronym crisis for the
merging parties.
The statement reads in part: “We wish to state
here that the PDP is not responsible for the ill
fate already befalling the ill conceived merger
of opposition groups.
“We strongly suspect that the current drama on
ownership of name may have been contrived by
the ACN to attract attention to themselves and
earn undue sympathy.
“This plot has played out in the sudden
emergence and withdrawal of a third group
bearing the acronym APC.”
Metuh said the question is, could the merger
group be creating a scenario where they would
compete within themselves and claim “victory”
after overheating the polity with phantom
parties?
Holding that the capacity of the opposition for
mischief had never been in doubt, he said the
PDP would not be surprised to find out at the
end of the day that “the merger parties are
behind this needless crisis.”
It added.
According to him, no member of the PDP was
involved in the formation of any other political
organisation, neither were they interested in
the activities of any other party.
He noted that the alleged involvement of one
Ugochinyere Imo Ikenga in the formation of the
other APC had no bearing whatsoever on the
PDP.
“From our findings, Mr. Ikenga’s recent
activities, including his unsavoury attacks and
illicit campaign for the dissolution of the
Bamanga Tukur-led National Working
Committee (of the PDP) makes him an
estranged fellow and therefore can never be an
agent of the PDP in anyway,” he said.
However, Metuh said the PDP welcomes a
strong and virile opposition and does not feel
threatened by the emergence of any group.
“We have no cause to frustrate any alliance as
we have always defeated such coalitions in the
recent past,” he said.
“The PDP remains focused on strengthening its
bond with the Nigerian people and will not be
distracted by self-inflicted chaos among a
rudderless group without an agenda of service
to the Nigerian people.”
Meanwhile, the battle by three political
associations over which of them owns or should
use the acronym, ‘APCs’, may after all be a
media affair.
Reason: None of the disputing association’s
name — the All Progressives Congress (APC),
African Peoples Congress (APC) and All
Patriotic Citizens (APC) — is on the INEC
website, as a perusal by The Guardian revealed
yesterday.
Specifically, the African Peoples Congress,
which has raised the dust these past weeks, has
not been registered by the INEC.
The website has only the 25 names of existing
political parties, which survived the
commission’s deregistration hammer of 28
parties on December 6, 2012.
The entire names, which include the National
Conscience Party (NCP), are: Accord (A), Action
Alliance (AA), Action Congress of Nigeria
(ACN), Advanced Congress of Democrats (ACD),
Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN),
Alliance for Democracy (AD), African
Democratic Congress (ADC), All Nigeria Peoples
Party (ANPP), African Peoples Alliance (APA),
All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), and
Congress for Progressive Change (CPC).
The rest are: Citizens Popular Party (CPP),
Democratic Peoples Party (DPP), Kowa Party
(KP), Labour Party (LP), Mega Progressive
Peoples Party (MPPP), New Nigeria Peoples
Party (NNPP), People for Democratic Change
(PDC), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP),
Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA), Peoples
Party of Nigeria (PPN), Social Democratic Mega
Party (SDMP), United Democratic Party (UDP),
and the United Progressive Party (UPP), that
was registered in November 2012.
The NCP recently took INEC to court in
anticipation of the commission’s threat to
further deregister some political parties.
However, the court ruled on March 6, 2013 that
the commission has power to de-list parties.
Even though the emerging All Progressives
Congress has not submitted a letter of intent on
the proposed party, the INEC has posted on its
website newspaper reports/analyses about the
association’s activities.
Such materials, headlined, ‘APC Registration:
Why INEC Must Tread Carefully’, ‘The APC
Marching On’, and ‘Merger This Time’ were
posted as recently as February 18, March 13
and March 14, 2013, respectively.
On December 18, 2012, the INEC Chairman,
Prof. Attahiru Jega, while defending the
commission’s action against the 28 parties,
promised that the electoral body would soon
commence registration of new political parties
“that meet the requirements for registration.”www.theguardianmobile.com/readNewsItem1.php?nid=11691