INEC set to register Tinubu’s APC

Presidential Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan on Inter Party Relations, Chief Ben Obi, has said the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leaders do not need anybody to tell them that the coming together of some opposition parties to challenge the PDP is an indication that they need to work harder. Obi said specifically that the coming of the All Progressives Alliance (APC) is nothing but a wake-up call to the leadership of the ruling party to sit up and improve on its internal democracy. He spoke as Sunday Independent got it on good authority during the week that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is now ready to register the All Progressives Alliance (APC). The APC is a newly formed political party by some opposition politicians drawn from the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and some members of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA). In an interview with Sunday Independent last week, Obi said he has always been an advocate of a two-party system and welcomes the formation of the new party as it would help to strengthen our democracy. Obi also noted that, with the APC, the National Chairman of the PDP, Dr. Bamanga Tukur, knows there is fire on the mountain, hence he has been moving from zone to zone to get things right for the party before the election days are here again. His words: “I’m indeed pleased that opposition parties are coming together to form a solid bloc to challenge the PDP. “As somebody well grounded in party management, I think it’s a very good development. Yes, they will challenge PDP. These are parties that control some state governments. “So it is expected that when they come together, they will make an impact. And it is good for our politics that they come together so that PDP itself will sit-up. I’m a member of the PDP. I want PDP to sit-up, I want PDP to get up and do a few things, like building its internal democracy. “You can see that the national chairman is now moving about going from zone to zone energising the party because he has seen that there is fire on the mountain. “Look, I am one of those who are promoters of a two-party system. I have said it over time. So, if I see a situation is coming to that, I’m all for it. But what I do not like is when I see my friends in the APC saying that the PDP is trying to scuttle them. “The PDP has no interest whatsoever in doing that. As special adviser to the president on inter-party affairs, I think I should know if that is happening at all.” During the week, a competent INEC source told Sunday Independent that the Attahiru Jega-led Commission had written to the opposition parties behind the APC – ACN, CPC, ANPP – confirming INEC’s readiness to witness/monitor their convention, indicating that they had ceased to function in their former capacity as a party and would now operate under the umbrella of one party to be called APC. Baring any unforeseen circumstances, the merging parties are expected to hold their conventions between April and June to pave the way for final ratification of the parties as APC. The spokesman of the ANPP, Emma Eneukwu, confirmed that the party’s NEC holding April 11 is part of the efforts the party was making to consummate the merger arrangement. The other parties involved in the merger game, mainly ACN, ANPP and CPC, are equally planning for similar National Executive Committee (NEC), Working Committee or Board of Trustees (BoT) meetings that would lead to holding their National Convention. At the weekend, Sunday Independent gathered that the ACN and the CPC may have chosen the date for their National Conventions. The ACN, our source said, is looking at April 18 while we could not ascertain the date the CPC hopes to convene hers during the month. Jega, Sunday Independent gathered, has confirmed INEC’s presence at the ACN National Convention in writing to the leadership of the party. The ACN had earlier written INEC to inform and invite the Commission to be part of it. However, the INEC source said the failure of the Commission to register the controversial African People’s Congress (APC), the party that is laying claim to have first approached INEC for registration with the name – APC, was founded on law. Last week, Jega came out to say the promoters of the African People’s Congress did not meet the basic registration conditions for political parties in the country. The pronouncement not only jolted the party promoters, but has made them vow to pursue the case to the Supreme Court should INEC not rescind its decision. The party has also accused INEC of compromise and gang up with some forces to frustrate its registration. But INEC insists they are in breach of the requirement of the Constitution as stipulated in 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 as stipulated in the above provision. “Consequently, the Commission shall not register the proposed African People’s Congress as a political party,” INEC told the promoters in a letter it wrote to the association’s Acting National Chairman, Chief Onyinye Ikeagwuonu, on March 21, 2013. Although there were insinuations that the PDP was fueling the controversy, the ruling party’s NWC through its spokesman, Olisa Metu, said the controversy was being “contrived by the ACN to attract attention to themselves and undue sympathy,” adding that “the capacity of our opposition for mischief has never been in doubt.” Regardless of the denial by the PDP over the raging name controversy, an inside source in the party is still confident that the merging parties may end up being advised to adopt a new name since the move by one of the interested parties to seek legal action to any level may distort the overall plan for the merger. “When the matter proceeds to the Supreme Court as we are sure it will, do you think the merging parties will still want to wait till the name riddle is resolved without looking for an alternative identity?” the politician asked. From: Sunday Independent