Opposition parties merging to form the All Progressive Congress (APC) will today meet with the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega.

The meeting, which is scheduled for 10am at INEC Headquarters in Abuja, would be attended by the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN; Congress for Progressive Change, CPC; All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP; and a faction of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA.

To be discussed at the meeting, LEADERSHIP gathered, is the confusion arising from the tussle over the APC acronym involving at least two other political associations, Africa People's Congress and All Patriotic Citizens.

APC chieftains have described the acronym as their intellectual property, just as they questioned the role of INEC in the confusion.

Confirming the meeting to LEADERSHIP, the spokesman of the CPC, Rotimi Fashakin, said the meeting is scheduled to hold by 10am today. "Recall that we had tried to see INEC before but it did not work; so we will be there tomorrow by 10am. You show up and let's see how it goes," he said.

On the possible agenda of the meeting, he said: "I wouldn't know. Let us wait until we get there. It is not good to speculate."

We won't attend - ACN

But speaking with LEADERSHIP on the matter, the national publicity secretary of the ACN, Alhaji Lai Muhammed, said the party was invited for a meeting with INEC officials today but said the party was not going to honour the invitation.

"Yes, we were invited for a meeting with INEC officials on the name thing but we are not going to honour the invitation. It is not as if we did not want to resolve the issue but we have written a letter back to INEC to complain of the short notice given to the party," Muhammed said. "There is no way we can get all our leaders to Abuja for the meeting, given the short notice given to us by INEC."

The chief press secretary to the national chairman of INEC, Kayode Idowu, refused to comment on the APC affair when contacted.

The four parties had, in February this year, signalled their merging into the All Progressive Congress or "APC". But, weeks later, the African Peoples Congress and All Patriotic Citizens wrote to INEC seeking registration and laying claim to the acronym APC.

Jega had, early this week, met with heads of political parties where he offered to review the guidelines on the regulation of political parties.