Registration: Will APC become a political party tomorrow?

BY CLIFFORD NDUJIHE & JOHNBOSCO AGBAKWURU
WILL the All Progressives Congress (APC) be registered as a political
party tomorrow or will the leaders be asked to return to the drawing
board and come up with a new name and other paraphernalia?
These are some of the questions that are expected to be answered
tomorrow by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Going by the provision of Section 84 (4)of the Electoral Act 2010, the
All Progressives Congress should have started functioning as a
political party since July 10, 2013, which was exactly 30 days the
leaders submitted a formalrequest for merger of the Action Congress of
Nigeria (ACN), All Nigeria People's Party (ANPP) and Congress
forProgressive Change (CPC). The request was dated June 5 but the INEC
receivedit on June 10.
Section 84 (4) of the Act says: "On receipt of the request for merger
of political parties, the Commission shall consider the request and,
if the partieshave fulfilled the requirements of the Constitution and
this Act, approve the proposed merger and communicate itsdecision to
the parties concerned before the expiration of 30 days from the date
of the receipt of the formal request- provided that if the Commission
fails to communicate its decision within 30 days the merger shall be
deemed to be effective."
However, APC is yet to start functioningas a political party for a
number of reasons. The INEC wrote the chairmen of the merging parties
on June 12 forwarding 35 copies of the commission's Form PA 1 for
completionand return along with 35 copies each of APC's proposed
constitution, manifesto and affidavit in support of claims in Form PA
1.
The political association submitted therequested documents on July 1.
INEC stated in its June 12 letter that it wouldcommence the processing
of the request after receiving the demanded documents. In essence, the
electoral umpire, by its statement, is expected to verify the
documents and come up with a decision within 30 days, a timeline that
will elapse at 12 midnight today.
Although, the INEC timeline is at variance with the provision of the
Electoral Act, which is 30 days from the date of the receipt of the
formal request not 30 days from the date 35 copies of certain
documents are submitted to INEC, APC cannot operate without INEC's
confirmation.
Aside INEC's nod, APC, which has vowedto snatch presidential power
from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2015, may to have to wait
longer to realize its quest. Reason: there are calls on INEC not
register All Progressives Congress on account of a pending litigation
challenging the acronym "APC."
Buhari, CPC; Onu,ANPP; Okorocha, APGA and Tinubu, ACN
Another political association, which shares the same acronym, the
African People's Congress has commenced an action at the Federal High
Court, Abuja in Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/224/2013 challenging INEC's
refusal to register it as a political party, and one of the reliefs it
is seeking before the court is an order prohibiting the registration
ofany other association known as and called African Peoples Congress
or having the acronym, APC, as a political p arty pending the
determination of the suit.
INEC'll register APC if it meets registration requirements
However, Mr. Kayode Idowu, chief press secretary to the INEC National
Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega reportedly said that the commission
would register the merger APC if it metthe requirements.
"The Independent National Electoral Commission conducts its operations
based strictly on its existing guidelines and rules. "Every
application that meets the prescribed rules and conditions set by the
constitution, gets registered, and any that does not meet the
prescribed rules, does not get registered," he said.
Factional APC opposes registration of merger APC
As the battle for the ownership of APC franchise linger, the African
Peoples Congress, one of the associations laying claim to the APC
acronym has told the INEC that the plan to register the merger APC
would be an effort in futility.
National Legal Adviser of African Peoples Congress, Mr. Kingsley Nnadi
who accused INEC of being bent on registering the rival APC said even
after the African Peoples Congress had gone to court challenging the
refusal of the commission to register it, which he claimed first
applied for registration after 'fulfilling' all the necessary
requirements.
Nnadi said that INEC being aware of thepending matter in court and
having entered appearance for the case was not supposed to continue
with the process of registering the All Progressives Congress.His
words: "INEC is bent on registering the All Progressives Congress even
when our matter is in court. They are not supposed to do anything
until further determination of the matter. We are the first that
applied to INEC with the APC acronym and INEC refusedto register us
with the claim that we did not furnish them with the addresses of
national officers which we did.
"We are optimistic that the court will do justice to our matter that
is why we did not bother to apply for an injunction restraining INEC
from registering anybody with the acronym.Whoever is registered apart
from us the original owners of the acronym, the court will void it and
it will amountto building on quick sand which will not last."
The rival APC legal adviser further argued, "When there is a pendency
of a matter, in law, you are not supposed to do anything that will
destroy the subject matter. Now that INEC is bent on registering them,
the commission is touching the subject matter which isbefore the
court.
"INEC is aware of the matter, it has been served and it has entered
appearance. Common law knowledge should tell them (INEC) that they are
not supposed to touch the matter. Jegasaid there is no injunction
restraining him, but when you are aware of a matter, you don't need an
injunction, but we are not bothered," he stated.
INEC has no reason not to register APC – ACN
Reacting to the issue, weekend, the ACN said that the merger APC had
met all the requirements to consummate its merger; hence the electoral
umpirehad no defensible reason not to approve the merger.
In a statement issued in Lagos by its National Publicity Secretary,
Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said in spite of recent media reports
concerning the antics of some negative forces within INEC over APC's
registration, the emerging party's leadership had no doubt that in the
end the electoral body would do what was right in accordance with the
law.
It therefore dismissed as a mere speculation the report that INEC was
planning to write a letter to the proponents of APC to find another
name because of a court case instituted by a political association
over the APC acronym.
''We are convinced that INEC has no discernible reason to write such a
letter to us. In the first instance, there exists no court injunction
anywhere restraining the commission from registering APC. There could
be many court cases, but until there is a court order, no one can
pre-empt what a court will do and act on that basis.
''Again, we have met all the stipulated requirements. INEC has also
inspected our proposed headquarters in Abuja and sighted all our
interim officers. The merger process may be novel, but we have played
according to the rules and we expect nothing less from INEC,'' the ACN
said.
Why rival APC went to court
At the peak of the crisis of identity rocking the All Progressives
Congress and African Peoples Congress the INEC, after a long silence,
came up with a definitive position that was meant to seal the African
Peoples Congress.
In a letter to the group, the commission rejected its bid for
registration on the ground that it breached Section 222 (a) of the
1999 Nigeria Constitution as amended.
In the letter duly signed by the Secretary to the commission, Abdulahi
Kaugama and dated March 21, 2013, INEC also noted that the Form PA 1
the association submitted did not contain the addresses of the
association's national officers.
The letter: INEC/DPPM&L/APC/490/V.1/76, read in part: "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."
With this, the African Peoples Congresswas left with no option than
the law courts.
Responding to the issue, a lawyer, Mr. Kelvin Okoro, said he would
fight for the association free of charge at the law court because the
matter portended grave danger to the nation's democracy.
His words: "We singled out the African People's Congress case because
it is a litmus test for democracy in Nigeria. African People's
Congress has fulfilled all legal requirements as stipulated in Section
222 of the 1999 Constitution (asamended) and Section 78 of the
Electoral Act."As such, they should be given the legal power to
operate as a political party, notwithstanding whose onus is affected
and we expect INEC to do what the law expects them to do. We are not
trying to pre-empt INEC but we are saying that in the event that INEC
fails to do what the law expects them to do, our services would be
given pro bono (free)," he assured.