The rumpus surrounding the rights to the use of the APC acronym by three prospective political parties continued on Monday, with the refusal of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to register one of the groups, the African Peoples Congress.
Protem Chairman of the prospective party, Chief Onyinye Ikeagwuonu who was baring his mind in a release titled, A brewing storm, claimed to have been privy to information on INEC’s plan to obstruct its registration. He claimed that the denial letter was just awaiting the INEC chairman’s signature.
A copy of the unsigned letter on INEC’s letter-headed paper, dated 21st March, 2013, INEC/DPPM&L/APC/490/V.1/76, addressed to Ikeagwuonu and titled Re-Application for Registration as a political party, accused African Peoples Congress of breaching Section 222 (a) of the Nigerian Constitution.
“Your application for registration as a political party dated 28th February, 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, 1999 (as amended) which stipulates as follows:
“No association by whatever name called shall function as a political party unless; 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 provisions above.
“Consequently, the commission shall not register the proposed African Peoples Congress (APC) as a political party.”
Ikeagwuonu alleged that desperate INEC officials had been paid to deny the African peoples Congress registration, on the pretext that there were irregularities in the addresses of its national officers.
“We had earlier alerted Nigerians about this high-level conspiracy and have thus been reliably informed by an impeccable source that a draft letter denying APC registration is right now on the table of the INEC Chairman waiting for his endorsement,” the statement continued, saying the plan, if executed, would constitute a rape of the country’s democracy.
Responding, Director of Information of INEC, Mr. Emmanuel Umenger, denied that the commission had drafted a letter to disqualify the African People Congress, saying it was wrong for anyone to discuss an unsigned letter.
“We have not received any letter like that and would not speak on it,” he said. “All letters emanating from the office are duly signed and if a letter emanating from my office is not duly signed, I will not waste my time on that… All the processes of registering a political party are on course, so there is no truth in the allegation of the African Peoples Congress.”
However, Umenger would subsequently make an about-face and confirm that a letter from INEC had truly dealt the coup de grace to African Peoples Congress’s aspiration to be registered as a political party.
“Yes, I am in receipt of a letter similar in content with the one you said you have duly signed by INEC’s Secretary, Alhaji Abdullahi Kaugama and it has been delivered to the addressee (African Peoples Congress) and one Michael Ogani signed and collected the letter and dated it March 25 2013,” he said.
“The content is what you read to me earlier. The point of departure as I spoke with you before now was that the letter you had was not signed and because it was not signed, we could not ascertain its authenticity and because of that I declined to speak on it.”
The party had initially cried wolf on Thursday, laying claim to a “black market transaction” that was underway on the influence of a “Lagos mafia” to prevent its registration.
Speaking when some legal practitioners belonging to the Lawyers in Defence of democracy and Constitutionalism, led by Mr. Kelvin Nnamdi Okoro, paid the party a courtesy call, he said that dark forces had gathered against a legitimate process and they were threatening to undermine the country’s democracy and rule of law, in addition to the credibility of electoral process.
“Conspirators and dark forces have infiltrated INEC! We wish to alert Nigerians of an ugly development, a black market transaction going on in INEC which if not checked immediately may murder the rule of law and democracy in Nigeria,” he had said.
“Information at our disposal have uncovered the manipulative, tinkering and leakage of official documentations concerning the ongoing registration process of African Peoples Congress. The party’s leaders are particularly concerned about the activities going on in the Legal department of INEC, where a certain group of senior staff are hell bent on using manipulative, tampered documentation to deny APC Registration.”
He urged INEC to side with constitutionalism and due process because APC had complied with all requirements of the 1999 Constitution and the Electoral Act, and maintained that the sustenance of the country’s democracy and the 2015 elections will begin with INEC’s ability to respect, preserve and implement to the letter, provisions of the law, particularly on registration of political parties.
