The National Chairman of the Peoples Salvation Party, Junaid Mohammed, tells ALLWELL OKPI that the deregistration of his party was counterproductive
Your party was among the recently deregistered 28 parties by INEC. Do you have objections to the exercise?
Democracy is about choices. Everybody has the right to associate with any group of people, he or she chooses. I believe there should be options for Nigerians. INEC does not have the right to determine the existence of a particular political party or the other. However, I had problems with the number of political parties in the country. I would have preferred a situation where the process of reduction of the number of political parties is done transparently. It should have been done in a way that is clear to everybody. Instead of the arbitrary way they did it.
Do you think the exercise had political undertone?
Of course, INEC has been shamelessly partisan; it is the PDP all the way. Sometimes they become even more enthusiastic than the PDP members. Jega and his colleagues in INEC do not give a hoot about public opinion, rule of law or moral justice. Backed by the PDP, they think they can do anything they like.
What is the next step for your party?
I will not bother taking INEC to court. If other parties go to court, I will join them. If none of the deregistered parties go to court, we will think of what else to do.
Some believe that the exercise could help sanitise the political system?
No, it will not sanitise anything. It was not only arbitrary, it has proved to be counter-productive. It has not addressed the problems with our democratic system. If they had said every party that has not won any seat in the National Assembly and the state assemblies should be deregistered, then it would have been better. If it was done that way, the number of political parties in the country would be reduced to six or seven — which is a more manageable number. But they sacked 28 and left thirty-something. That doesn't solve anything. In the Second Republic, there were five parties in the first term and six parties in the second term, before the army took over. In the Third Republic, it was the Social Democratic Party and the rest. Then in 1999, it was PDP versus APP in the North, PDP versus AD in the South-West and PDP versus APGA in the South-East. South-South has been PDP all the way.
Did INEC contact you and did they advance reasons for ita action?
Jega knows my house. The secretary of INEC knows my house. And they have my phone number. They cannot say they were unable to reach me. Up till now, nobody has contacted me or any member of my party. Our party office in Abuja has been down for some time because we could not afford to continue running it. INEC should understand that not everybody comes into politics with money, or with the intention to steal public funds. However, would it not have been noble for INEC to communicate to us their reasons for the action, forward the charges and let us defend ourselves? INEC should be decent enough to know that we represent a substantial number of people. I have been the leader of my party since 2006, I don't know of any set of criteria for political parties to avoid deregistration, except for the conditions required for registration, which we met.
