The political ‘nightmare’ hunting the newly formed All Progressive Congress, APC, seems not to be over as a new group claiming the same acronym has emerged.
The new group also who claims to be All Progressives Congress has written to the Independent National Electoral Commission seeking to add “Nigeria” to its acronym, APC.
It was gathered in Abuja, on Friday that the group had no affiliation to the All Progressives Congress being promoted by the coalition of opposition political parties.
In an advertorial published in a national daily on Friday, the new group wrote: “The below document (sic) are evidence (sic) of our ongoing registration process to register the All Progressive Congress as a political party which started over a month ago.
“INEC in replying out ( sic) first letter advised us to change our acronym so that it will not conflict with the acronym of the African People’s Congress (APC) which at that time was the first to submit an application in compliance with the INEC letter to us and to avoid an acronym war with the African People’s Congress (APC), which has announced their decision to challenge INEC decision to deny them registration at the court in line with Section 76 of the Electoral Act, we have adjusted our earlier application to now read All Progressive Congress of Nigeria (APCN).”
While reacting to the development, the National Publicity Secretary of the Action Congress of Nigeria, Lai Mohammed, said the development was the handiwork of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party.
He explained that Nigerians were smart enough to read between the lines, adding that it was left for INEC to prove to the world the kind of umpire it was.
Mohammed said, “It is all the handiwork of the Presidency and the PDP. But you see, this will be a test case for INEC because INEC refused to register UPGA on the grounds that it was too close to APGA now that INEC has notice of our intention to merge under the banner of APC, we will want to see if they will still register APCN, we are waiting.”
Also speaking on the issue, National Publicity Secretary of the Congress for Progressive Change, Rotimi Fashakin, said, “This is all part of the script we are talking about. What they are trying to do is to close whatever option which we may have should we decide to choose another name, this is clear political rascality. They are petrified at the progress of the merger. Jonathan has learnt from the grand patriarch of the PDP, General Olusegun Obasanjo. It is executive rascality. “
However, the Peoples Democratic Party has dismissed the allegations levelled against it by the opposition.
The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, said, “ My response is that over the years we have had people leaving PDP, we have never accused ACN, we have had people disagreeing with PDP, and we have had internal challenges and sometimes even minor crisis, we have never blamed opposition parties.
“We do hope that when they start having their challenges and crisis they will not be blaming PDP.
“We know there is still a storm coming when they are going to do their primaries. They will have storms, when they are having their congresses they will have storms, when it comes let them not blame PDP because it is normal with administering a large party. If they do not have the capacity or the competence to be at the helm of a party then they should stop making noise. It means Nigerians cannot trust them to superintend the economy of this country.”
It will be recalled that hours after the African People’s Congress unveiled its logo and national secretariat in Abuja, the All Progressives Congress being promoted by opposition political parties insisted that the acronym, APC, remained its intellectual property and would not relinquish it.
This is just as news emerged that another political association with a similar acronym, All Patriotic Citizens, had also applied to the Independent National Electoral Commission for registration as a political party.
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