in the name crisis being faced in the registration of the All Progressives
Congress (APC), as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has
rejected the application of the African People’s Congress (APC) for
registration.
The leadership of the African People’s Congress
has, however, vowed to resist its non-registration on the grounds that it
fulfilled all requirements for registration as a political party.
In a letter signed by its secretary, Abdullahi A.
Kaugama, dated March 21, 2013, a copy of which was obtained by the Nigerian
Tribune, INEC said “the commission has observed that your association is in
breach of Section 222(a) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria, 1999 (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 PA1
established that it does not contain the addresses of your national officers,
stipulated in the provision above.
“Consequently, the commission shall not register
the proposed African People’s Congress (APC) as a political party.”
The leadership of the APC, however, decried the
attitude of the electoral body and alleged that there was a plot to deny its
registration, even after it had fulfilled all the requirements.
The legal adviser of the proposed party, Mr
Kingsley Nnadi, noted that the provision of the constitution and the Electoral
Act was clear and that no other rules outside the law should be applied on the
party registration exercise.
