INEC dares opposition parties: You can’t register as APC

The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has written to inform the All Progressives Congress, APC that its acronym, in the application seeking registration as a political party is clashing with that of the African People’s Congress.

INEC in a letter dated April 23, 2013 and signed by its secretary, Abdulahi Kaugama, informed leaders of the All Progressives Congress that a change of name was the best option for them.

Meanwhile, the African People’s Congress has also initiated a counter move to have INEC reject the application of the All Progressives Congress, which is expected to be submitted after all the merging parties had concluded their conventions.

In a one-page letter by its lawyer, Awa Kalu, to the INEC chairman, dated April 26 and received same day by INEC, the African People’s Congress reminded INEC of the pendency of the legal action seeking to upturn the decision of INEC not to register the African People’s Congress, in a suit No FHC/ABJ/CS/224/13 between Chief Ikeagwuonu and 29 others vs INEC.

Dailypost could recall that the African People’s Congress, a political party seeking registration, was earlier denied registration by INEC on the grounds that their application did not contain the address of its national officers, an action the party had said was untrue, stating that INEC was on a deliberate mission to stop it.

Section 79 of the Electoral Act gives a political association, whose application for party registration is rejected, 30 days within which to seek judicial review of the decision, a provision the African People’s Congress had already exploited, with its pending litigation at the Federal High Court, Abuja, seeking judicial review of the decision of INEC.

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