The All Progressives Congress, APC, has alleged a plan by those it described as unscrupulous elements to confuse voters ahead of the 2015 general elections through the registration of parties with same acronyms with the legacy parties that formed the APC. Lai-takeThe party said the plan to register new parties with acronyms – ACN, CPC and ANPP – was to confuse voters and remove from the APC’s votes in the forthcoming elections. The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC in its reaction, however, claimed ignorance of any deliberate plan against the APC even as it said that requests for registration of parties which come in dozens weekly are being treated according to merit. The APC in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, alleged that a request had been filed before INEC for the registration of Allied Council of Nigeria ACN; Advanced National Patriotic Party, ANPP and Conservative People’s Congress, CPC. The three applications, according to Mohammed, were filed the same day. The application for the registration of the three parties, he said, was to confuse voters with the three legacy parties, Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, and the All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP that merged to form the APC last year. “It is worthy of note that the three applications to INEC for the registration of the three organisations as political parties were made on the same day. Apparently, common sense takes flight in the face of great desperation! ‘’Their plan is simple: Once the parties are registered, they will then apply to change their logos to those of the original ACN, ANPP and CPC, and then hope to be on the ballot for next year’s general elections. “Just before the elections, the sponsors of the phantom parties will then send out messages saying the APC has splintered into its component parties for the purpose of the election. Whatever happens, their plan is to confuse the electorate and hamper the electoral fortunes of the APC.’’ ‘’This acronym battle is a part of the larger war against our party to prevent its registration. Nigerians will recollect that the same people, apparently, applied to register a phantom APC the moment it became clear that our merger would succeed and that INEC would register our party, having met all the requirements to consummate the merger,” the statement said. ‘’Thankfully, INEC refused to compromise its neutrality and integrity and chose to act in accordance with the law by registering our party. We urge the electoral body to do the same now, in the face of unprecedented desperation by those who believe they can only win elections by cutting corners,’’ the party said. The APC thus called on Nigerians to be vigilant as the 2015 elections approach, saying those who are now coming to terms with the reality that the APC is a viable alternative in the country’s political firmament will stop at nothing to seek to mar the electoral fortunes of the party. Responding to the development yesterday, INEC chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega said the commission could not respond on specifics as the commission was regularly receiving applications from applicants.
Posted on: Wed, 24 Sep 2014 06:04:22 +0000
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