The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has accused the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of engaging in bare-faced lies and manipulation of facts by claiming that the phantom African Peoples Congress has applied to the commission for registration.
In a statement issued in Abuja on Tuesday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said the INEC claim, as articulated by Mr. Kayode Idowu, the spokesman for INEC Chairman, is not supported by the relevant sections of the Electoral Act regulating the registration of a political party.
It said the truth of the matter is that no party today with the acronym APC has applied to INEC to be registered, adding that even the 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.
”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,” ACN said.
The party said in order to debunk INEC’s claim that the phantom African Peoples Congress has applied for registration, it is 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) which 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”
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 acknowledgment, 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.”
0 comments:
Post a Comment