Leadership (Abuja)
23 April 2008
Abuja — Some political parties yesterday threatened a legal showdown with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) if it carries out the call to deregister them. In separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) yesterday in Lagos, the political parties said that they would have no other option than to institute legal action against INEC over the move.
The parties are the African Democratic Congress (ADC), National Action Council (NAC), Citizen's Popular Party (CPP) and the Masses Movement of Nigeria (MMN).
NAN reports that chairmen of some political parties agreed last Tuesday that any party that failed to win 2.5 per cent of the National Assembly seats in future elections would be deregistered.
The national chairman of APGA, Chief Chekwas Okorie, told newsmen in Abuja, after a meeting with Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan that the decision was aimed at pruning down the political parties.
"We have agreed that any party that is not able to make 2.5 per cent of National Assembly seats in any election will be de-registered.
"It is the most democratic way that the de-registration can be done, and two and a half per cent is about 13 seats at the National Assembly.
"So, any party that went through elections and was not able to return 13 seats in a free and fair election will thereafter cease to be a registered political party until the next election," Okorie had said.
The newly-elected national chairman of the PDP, Prince Vincent Ogbulafor, last week said that becoming a one-party state would not harm Nigeria.
Dr Olapade Agoro, the national chairman of NAC, however, said that some of the parties would be meeting later in the week on the issue.
"INEC should be ready for the greatest battle of its life, if it dares to ignore the Supreme Court judgement on registration of parties.
"The Supreme Court has the final say on the issue of registration of parties and since it had passed a judgement on the freedom to form parties, it cannot be changed," Agoro said.
He pointed out that the 2007 general elections could not be used to measure the performance of any party because of the flaws it recorded. (NAN)
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