The promoter of the Alliance for Democratic Action (ADA), Umar Ardo, has given reasons for his opposition to the registration of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
This was said to have been said Thursday during an appearance on Arise Television’s Morning Show programme.
He alleged that the NDC did not follow constitutional and electoral procedures for registering a political party.
Ardo said the process of registering a political party begins with the formation of an association and sending a formal letter of intent containing the proposed party name, acronym and logo to INEC.
He said NDC initially wrote to the INEC for registration but the request was rejected on the ground that the logo of the party was said to be similar to those of existing political parties and associations.
Ardo said the association should have challenged the decision in court within 14 days, but instead asked INEC to reconsider.
He further stated that after the commission failed to respond, the group took the matter to court, on the strength of its letter of intent alone.
He said that was not enough to prove compliance with the Electoral Act and constitutional requirements.
Associations that want to register should complete Form EC15 and upload relevant documents to INEC’s portal including the party constitution, manifesto, list of national executive members and evidence of payment of prescribed fees, Ardo said.
He claimed that the NDC did not fill out the form and upload the required documents before going to court.
“INEC was aware that the association has not met the requirement for registration”, Ardo said.
He said the commission should have fought against and appealed the court judgment in favour of the NDC.
He said, “Why I am against NDC? I need to justify that so that the castigation against me and then the misunderstanding by a lot of Nigerians, maybe assuaged
“You know, before you register a political party, the process is one, you create an association. So they formed an association of the Nigerian Democratic Congress (NDC).
“Then you will write a letter of intent to INEC and tell INEC that we have formed this association and we are serious about being registered as a political party. Here is the name of the association. This is the acronym of the association, this is the logo of the association. Can you open the portal to us to apply in the portal by filling in EC15? This is the form you need to fill in if you want to register.
“NDC sent this letter of intent to INEC. “Well, NDC, this is your registration, replied INEC back to NDC. Your logo is not the same and we cannot proceed with it. It’s like other political parties and political associations, we cannot go with you.
“Then the law says that if INEC writes such a letter within 14 days, you should go to court. But now NDC wrote back to INEC and said, INEC, change your position. INEC did not reply.
NDC wrote again a month or so later. It said, we are giving you one month, you know, one week to think about it.
“INEC did not reply. And then NDC took this letter to court. And with that letter, the court said NDC had met all the requirements of the Constitution, all the requirements of the Electoral Act and all the guidelines which is not true.
“This is because, until you fill in the form EC 15, where you upload the name of your party. Two, you upload this acronym . 3, you upload the logo. Four, you upload the Constitution. Five, you post the manifesto. Six, you upload the executive members, the national executive members. Seven, then you upload the fee.” “You pay a fee and get the receipt for INEC to grant you access to the portal.
You need to upload it. You are required to upload 29 documents to show that you have applied for it. NDC did not. NDC paid not. NDC didn’t fill out that form The NDC did nothing at all. NDC went to court for one letter only and the court said You have done all. If NDC can deceive the court, if NDC can deceive the gullible Nigerians, NDC could not deceive INEC because INEC knows the truth. “INEC knows that NDC did not make application. So when they brought the judgment, INEC should have resisted and appealed.”
