THE 28 political parties that were last week deregistered by the Independent National Electoral Commission have 'declared' the electoral commission's act as null and void.
Leaders of the defunct parties on Thursday in Abuja asked the Chairman of INEC, Prof. Attahiru Jega, to resign from office after they accused him of plotting to impose a two-party system on the country.
National Chairman of the defunct African Liberation Party, Chief Emmanuel Okereke, who spoke for the deregistered parties at a media briefing, said, "We are warning him (Jega) to tender his resignation letter because, what he has done is a clear indication that the commission under him cannot conduct a credible election.
"He has shown that he is no longer capable of managing our electoral process.
"INEC has a hidden agenda to reduce parties in the country to a two-party system. Since Prof. Attahiru Jega assumed office as Chairman of INEC, he has never called a meeting of political parties."
Responding to the briefing by the deregistered parties on Thursday, spokesman for Jega, Mr. Kayode Idowu, said INEC did not recognise them again.
Idowu said, "How are the 28 political parties daring INEC after the commission had said it does not recognise them? If they continue to operate, what has that got to do with INEC? Do you know the implication of that, when INEC says it does not recognise candidates? If INEC has any event, INEC will not deal with them again. What INEC said was that it does not accord them recognition again.
"If for instance INEC has an election to conduct, they will not be recognised and they can't field candidates. There is no law to be invoked on them. Even if they keep offices open and keep on addressing press conferences, they are free."
INEC had on Thursday, December 6, announced the deregistration of 28 political parties for not winning any elective seat since their registration, hinging its action on the "exercise of the powers conferred on it by the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended)."
The affected parties included Pastor Chris Okotie's Fresh Democratic Party; Balarabe Musa's Peoples Redemption Party; and the National Reformation Party, founded by the late nationalist, Anthony Enahoro, among others.
The INEC boss on Wednesday had said that the deregistration of political parties that did not meet the standard of the Electoral Act was a continuous exercise.
"If more parties violate the requirements of the Electoral Act and it warrants de-registration, we will de-register them," Jega told some journalists in Abuja.
He also said that INEC had no benchmark for the number of parties to be registered.
The PUNCH on Monday had also reported a plan by INEC to deregister 25 more political parties as soon as the legal tussles over the already deregistered parties were over.
But Okereke insisted that the deregistration of the 28 parties was in contravention of a court which had stopped INEC from deregistering the parties.
He also accused Jega of predicating the shift on the date of the 2011 poll in order to weaken the parties.
He insisted that the sudden change in the election date had huge cost implications on their parties and that that led to their poor performance in the elections.
He said the parties had resolved to ignore the deregistration and to go ahead with their normal activities pending the final decision of the court case challenging INEC's action.
The leader of the deregistered People's Progressive Party, Mr. Damian Ogbonna, also at the briefing said, "INEC acted in a most reckless manner known to democratic world and against the constitution of Nigeria by embarking on such an anti-democratic mission.
"INEC acted in contemptuous disregard of court proceedings given that the constitutionality of deregistration of political parties and the offending provisions of the Electoral Act is being litigated against at the Federal High Courts in Lagos and Abuja.
"In fact, an application for Judicial order to restrain INEC from deregistration of any political party was filed and served on INEC as far back as May 23, this year.
"In the light of the INEC's action, we, the political parties of Nigeria, will continue to function as full-fledged political parties in strict compliance with the provisions of Section 221-2/9 of the constitution of Nigeria."
The politicians wondered why the Commission was bent on reducing the number of political parties in the country.
They cited South Africa, where they said about 159 registered political parties existed and the United States of America, which they also said had 210 recognised political parties.
