The Nigerian electoral commission said the controversial APC will not be registered.

The plan by the African Peoples Congress to become a political party crashed on Monday as the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, said it would not register the association because it failed to meet the conditions for registration.

In a letter dated March 21 and sent to the political association, the commission said the group breached section 222 (a) of the 1999 Constitution as amended and thereby cannot be considered for any further registration as a political party.

The commission said that African Peoples Congress, which is one of the three associations laying claim to “APC” as its acronym, did not indicate the addresses of its national officers while filling Form PA 1, which the commission earlier forwarded to it.

Section 222 says, “No Association by whatever name called shall function as a political party unless: (a) The names and addresses of its national officers are registered with the Independent National Electoral Commission.”

INEC’s letter titled “Re: Application for Registration as a Political Party” reads: “Your application for registration as a political party dated 28thFebruary, 2013 refers. The Commission has observed that your Association is in breach of Section 222(a) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) which stipulates as follows:

“No Association by whatever name called shall function as a political party unless:

(a) The names and addresses of its national officers are registered with the Independent National Electoral Commission”

“A close observation of your submitted Form PA 1 established that it does not contain the addresses of your national officers as stipulated in the provision above.

“Consequently, the Commission shall not register the proposed African People’s Congress, (APC) as a political party.”

The INEC Director of Publicity, Emmanuel Umenger confirmed to PREMIUM TIMES that the commission wrote the association informing it of its decision.

He explained that the African Peoples Congress applied for registration on February 28, 2013 upon which the Commission forwarded to it documents, including Form A to fill.

He said that while returning the form, the association failed to fill the addresses of its national officers thereby breaching the provisions of the constitution.

“Yes, we wrote the association today March 21 and the letter is before me here and it was signed by the Commission’s Secretary. The association breached Section 222 of the constitution,” Mr. Umenger said.

Asked if INEC would reconsider the association’s application if it fulfills the said requirement, the Commission’s spokesman said “There is no second chance; the law is explicit and INEC follows what the law says.”

With INEC’s decision, the race is now left for the other two associations claiming to own the APC acronym. They are All Progressives Congress and All Patriotic Citizens.

Group reacts

But in a swift reaction, the Protem National Chairman of the African Peoples Congress, Oninye Ikeagwuonu, accused the commission of conniving with some unnamed politicians to deny it registration.

Mr. Ikeagwuonu said at a press conference in Abuja on Monday that he is in possession of a letter dated 21st March purportedly written by INEC, in which the commission premised the plan not to register the association on irregularities in the addresses of its national officers.

It is the second time in two weeks that the association is accusing INEC officials of conniving with unnamed politicians to deny it registration.

Mr. Ikeagwuonu, however, vowed that the association would not give up its pursuit for registration, adding that it would seek judicial intervention if INEC fails to register it.

Also reacting, a member of the Merger Committee of the All Progressives Congress, Osita Okechukwu praised INEC for “serving the cause of justice and defending the constitution.”

Mr. Okechukwu described the rush by the African Peoples Congress to INEC for registration, using “APC” as its acronym “as a culture of impunity borne out of mischief which was meant to sustain the one-party state that the Peoples Democratic Party has nurtured over the years.”

Clerverly: After all these Jega's initial gra-gra. Maybe he has sensed where the pendulum is swinging to

Meanwhile Progressive 1-PDP 0 or should i say insinere9igerian 0

take dat: ^ You have not proffered any solution. Do we stick with the tried and failed PDP or are you willing to register your own "pro-masses" political party?



So members of the amorphous and phantom African People's Congress(APC) forgot to indicate their addresses in the bid to hurriedly float a party with the acronym of APC, even after INEC must have written to them a letter stating all the necessary requirements for party registration! I wasn't expecting much from a ragtag bunch of "use and dump" hungry hirelings, misfits and bungling dolts!

israel007:

Read my post again. It's an innocent and sincere person stating his opinion.

Tigerhead: Sometimes I am not sure if I am in the same planet as the people on this forum. The application was defective because it did not contain names and address. According to nailand eeerr... apologists, the application cannot be corrected because they don't want it to be. Please can one of you functional illiterates show me where in the governing legislation it says that if your application is deficient in one aspect it cannot be corrected, or is it that we now make laws here n Nairaland according to who we like or don't like.

Eziachi:
So what makes men like Tom Ikimi a progressive?
Is there anybody in the Nigerian politics who would br called a real progressive?

mankevo: @TigerHead
INEC SAID.....[color=#000099][/color]
Maybe you are in a hurry to attack and didn't read what INEC said.

Gbawe:


You know, when people talk as you do, I smile to myself. A bit like how one is amused watching a self-destructive person doing things that will only hasten his own failure/demise/worthlessness. It says a lot about your character when you consistently and self-deludingly make the APC about Ikimi.

A bit like a very sad hater of Barcelona who will dismiss the fact the club has the best footballers in the world, comparative to others, to pretend and insist the least naturally talented by far in a line-up of 11, such as Gerrard Pique, is the identity of Barcelona. Sad. I really feel sorry for you because you don't appreciate how low you have sunk when hate make you utter wild and senseless lies so incoherently. Yes, the APC is about Ikimi. In fact he will be cloned so all positions can be occupied by Ikimi. Keep deceiving yourself. Your outlook just shows you cannot be very good at effective thinking because all critical thinkers deal with facts, logic and rational ideas.

olabukola: I did not see any hate in the post you quoted. All i read there is just question. Is like you have problem with the eziachi before or something.

@ op. I thought you guys accused INEC of being part of PDP.

Tigerhead: Stop thinking like a secondary school student and think like a businessman / bureaucrat, that application is defective and a new one will be submitted. There is no chance for the defective application. Cast your mind back to the APGA guy whose party application was denied on the grounds of the name. He sent in another application and it was approved.

Clerverly:

http://premiumtimesng.com/politics/126855-inec-declines-to-register-rival-apc.html

“A close observation of your submitted Form PA 1 established that it does not contain the addresses of your national officers as stipulated in the provision above.

“Consequently, the Commission shall not register the proposed African People’s Congress, (APC) as a political party.”

gulfer: The banner is funny; African peoples Congress (APC) , 'NOW OPEN'. Is it a new eatery/hotel or Joint?