ABOUT
three governors of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and former
presidents of the country have agreed to fund the newly-formed All Progressives
Congress (APC), just as the new party may likely face registration hurdles with
the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) over its acronym, APC.
Sunday Tribune investigation revealed that
though the governors and two former presidents had promised to fund the new
party, they would still remain within the ruling party.
It was said this was part of the resolve of
some PDP leaders, who were sympathetic to the cause of the newly-formed party,
to redesign their support strategy instead of the reports linking them to the
rumoured mass defection from the ruling party.
It was specifically reported that a
Southern governor had pledged support for the new party while opting to remain
within the PDP for safety reasons.
Another North-Central governor was said to
have made a similar pledge under an anonymous cover, especially as his interest
in real estate sector in Abuja was reported to be under threat.
A former Head of State and a former
vice-president were also reported to have met leaders of the new party but with
a resolution to financially support rather than join the new party. Two
meetings were said to have been held with these two top leaders.
An APC source told Sunday Tribune that most
sympathisers of the new party within the PDP were not willing to defect from
the ruling party, adding that “reports of imminent defection to our party are
not true.
“Most of them are afraid. They promise to
support us but they are not ready to leave the PDP. They want to give us money
but we are also afraid of them. We don’t want them to hijack the new party, “
the source said.
But the APC, it was revealed, was likely to
face registration challenges as its acronym, APC, had been taken by another
political party.
Inside sources within the APC told Sunday
Tribune that reports from INEC indicated that another party, African
Progressive Congress (APC) is already a registered political party which still
subsists within the commission‘s registry.
Since another party is already bearing APC,
the report indicated that INEC might refuse to register the newly-formed APC
unless it changed its name to avoid conflict with the existing registered
political party.
As of the time of filing this report, it
was not clear who the leaders of the African Progressive Congress were and when
the party was registered by the electoral body. The party is, however, not
among those deregistered recently by INEC.
Further checks showed that the said African
Progressive Congress was in existence all along though some APC insiders were
already crying foul, accusing the ruling PDP of being the brain behind the
plot.
A very furious APC source in Abuja told
Sunday Tribune that “African Progressive Congress was newly-registered with the
goal of denying the newly formed APC registration,” accusing the INEC of
working in league with the PDP.
“You know General Buhari was right when he
said INEC has merged with the PDP. We are seeing the sign now. There is a grand
plot to deny us registration and we will resist all attempts in that
direction,” the source said.
A Senior Advocate of Nigeria and a former
Justice Minister, Prince Adetokunbo Kayode, however, fired back at the
insinuations of PDP plotting to stop the new party, declaring that “APC and ADC
are registered political parties long before now.
“Why must they shift their problem on PDP?
They should have done their home work properly by checking INEC before
announcing their name. APC and ADC have always been there as registered
political parties. If they did not check with INEC, is that the fault of PDP?
Kayode who is also a chieftain of the PDP asked.
The former minister who described APC as “a
still-birth baby” said “we are not losing sleep over them and they should face
their problem instead of blaming us for their woes.
Further investigations, however, showed
that APC leaders are yet to officially approach INEC with their request for
registration even though it was learnt that the doubt being raised about
registration hurdles emanated from the report of the registration and liaison
sub-committee of the party.
The sub-committee which submitted its
report last Wednesday was reported to have made preliminary contact with INEC
during which the existence of African Progressive Party was discovered. It is
not clear yet what the APC leaders will do if INEC finally confirms the need
for them to change the name of the new party.
Source: Tribune
No comments:
Post a Comment