Jega’ll plunge Nigeria into chaos – Rival APC chairman

Posted by admin INEC Politics, National Politics, Top Stories Friday, August 2nd, 2013

The chairman of the African People’s Congress (APC), Chief Onyinye Ikeagwuonu, has described the regisration of the rival All Progressives Congress (APC) as an attempt by the Professor Atahiru Jega-led Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to plunge the country’s democracy into chaos.

The chairman of the yet-to-be registered APC said this in Abuja, on Thursday, while addressing a press conference on the decision of INEC to register the other APC.

Declaring his party’s stand on the lingering struggle for the ownership of the authentic APC acronym, Ikeagwuonu, said in as much as it remains a subject of litigation, the acronym was unavailable to the newly-registered APC or any other political group.

He said with the registration of the rival APC, “it became obvious that Jega and his mercantile officials in INEC have succeeded in plunging the country’s democratic process into chaos.

“As long as our case is in court, the acronym APC is not yet available as the process of registration which ends with a judicial review, is still ongoing.
“Nigerians must note that INEC fully acknowledged that we were the first to apply with the name, APC and are fully in court with us over our move to upturn the decision to deny us registration,” he said.

According to him, INEC’s decision to go ahead with the registration of the rival APC tantamounts to a breach of the rule of law.

Noting that the African People’s Congress fully complied with registration requirements, he queried the rationale behind INEC’s refusal to register the party but rather went ahead to register a group, whose acronym was same as the former.

He, therefore, wondered what would become of the registered APC, should the expected court judgment turn out to favour the African People’s Congress.
“What will happen to INEC and the merger parties when the court gives judgment in our favour and reinstates our right over the APC acronym,”? he asked.
Ikeagwuonu also said his APC would field a candidate in the forthcoming governorship election in Anambra State.

He said the party leadership arrived at the decision after due consultation with the party’s legal team across the country, adding that it decided to kick off the preliminary ground work for its participation in the election.

“We must send out this clear signal that the African People’s Congress is going on with it’s preparations for the Anambra gubernatorial election as we are hopeful of the positive outcome of our action in court and nobody can stop our candidate from participating.

“Our Expression of Interest Form are already available and our nomination forms for the governorship poll is N500, 000 for men and free for women,” he said.wp_posts