A former Chairman of the defunct Progressives Action Congress (PAC), Charles Nwodo, on Wednesday expressed disappointment over the deregistration of political parties by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, in 2012.

Mr. Nwodo, who made his view known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Abuja, commended the judiciary for a recent court ruling invalidating INEC's action.

The party chieftain reminded those who wanted to act contrary to the law to desist from doing so, because it was not possible in a democratic setting. He expressed confidence in the judiciary for demonstrating that it was really the last hope of the common man.

Mr. Nwodo said that if it were left in the hands of the legislature and the executive, the issue would have been dead by now.

"This is because INEC would have continued to de-register more political parties. The judiciary still has a lot to do, because there are more laws that need to be amended to meet the contemporary challenges.

"This is to give room for liberalisation of our democratic experiment and scope in the modern world," he said.

He expressed happiness that political parties' efforts were not in vain as justice had prevailed at last.

Mr. Nwodo said that politicians had alerted Nigerians long time ago that INEC lacked the power and the right to de-register political parties. He said that it was wrong for INEC to de-register some political parties simply because they could not conduct national conventions and have offices in the FCT.

"It is an abuse of the fundamental human rights of Nigerians to freedom of association," he said.

Mr. Nwodo regretted that INEC that was supposed to play the role of an arbiter and a neutral body involved itself in an unconstitutional exercise.

He said it was the responsibilities of INEC to register political parties, organise elections, conduct elections, and regulate the activities of political parties and politicians' in-line with the 1999 constitution as amended.

"We believe that political parties formation and existence is an evolutionary process that needs time to grow.

"There is no political party in this country that is registered within a year and becomes a strong political party without growing over time," Mr. Nwodo said.

He urged INEC to emulate the U.S. where two major political parties dominated the political system with the existence of other smaller political parties.

NAN