. Falana, AD join legal fi reworks in party’s name dispute
Barring any further development, the All Progressives Congress, APC, will this week receive the nod of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to function as a political party, having satisfied all the conditions set by the election regulatory body.
But in the meantime, the party ahead of the registration has started making moves to constitute its Board of Trustees.
It is expected that the party is drawing the lists of eminent leaders and political heavyweights which include former heads of state, past governors and all former chairmen of the parties that are in the merger arrangement.
A source at the APC secretariat told Sunday Mirror that names already pencilled by the leadership of the party to be involved in the policy making organ of the party include former military leader, General Ibrahim Babangida, former Vice President Atiku Abubarkar, former Defence Minister, Gen. Theophilus Danjuma, NADECO chairman and retired Admiral Ndubuisi Kanu.
The party is also bothered about the future of former party leaders who pioneered the merger arrangement including the National Chairman of the Congress for Progressive Change, Prince Tony Momoh, National Chairman of the All Nigeria Peoples Congress, Dr. Ogbonnanya Onu and the founder of the Democratic Peoples Party and former governor of Sokoto State, Alhaji Atahiru Bafarawa, as a well as the strong man of Borno politics and former BoT member of ANPP, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff.
It is expected that the two others leaders of APC, Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu and Gen. Mohammadu Buhari will play a key role in the new BoT.
According to the source, “It is believed that the protem chairman of the BoT will come from the South since the party has ceded the presidential slot to the North and all expectation is that either Tinubu or his appointee will emerge as the chairman of the privileged arm of the party.
“But the BoT may also consider some other members of the National Working Committee from the merger parties as well as some other Nigerians who are opposed to the tyrannical style of leadership of the PDP.”
“It is the believed in the APC that most Nigerians are tired of the style of governance forced on us by the PDP and since the only way to end that national embarrassment is through the ballot, APC is the only viable option and 2015 will be a watershed in the history of Nigeria. We are all eagerly looking for the change we all hoped for.”
However, the controversy that brewed last week over the plans of INEC to register All Progressives Congress has intensified as more interested parties have shown interest in the drama.
The Federal high court Abuja late last week delivered a landmark ruling by Justice Kolawale of court 5 on the suit of African People’s Congress (APC). The ruling which centered on the application of a faction of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) linked to ACN to be joined as a defendant in the suit of African People’s Congress against INEC on their decision not to register them.
The judge described the application of AD as frivolous, abuse of court process and a calculated attempt by the applicant to waste the time of the court as they did not show any cause of action. The court struck out the application immediately.
Shortly after the ruling strange drama took place, a new group Peoples Socialist Movement moved another motion to be joined as defendant in the suit.
The judge was infuriated by the numerous applications by different groups to be joined, he warned the lawyer of the new group that if he discovers that the application is frivolous like that of the AD he will award cost on the lawyer personally.
Then came the undated motion filed by Femi Falana (SAN) for another group bearing the name African People’s Congress claiming to be a non-governmental organization, seeking a stay of proceedings by the court as they have filed their notice of appeal in the court of appeal.
The group sought to quash the decision of the Federal High Court in granting the plaintiffs leave to seek judicial review against INEC. The judge descended heavily on the application of Falana, saying that it was smuggled into his file without a date on it and served on only the plaintiffs without serving INEC.
He further warned that nobody can use the court processes to delay him from hearing the substantive suit, saying thatthat politicians should not use his court to play politics and that INEC should beware that the case is properly before him that in the event they go ahead to register anybody with the acronym (APC) that it will not stop him from delivering his judgment in due course. The judge adjourned the ruling of the applications of the People’s Socialist Movement and Femi Falana to July 18, 2013
Meanwhile the factional leadership of the AD said that it was amazed to see that the party that was not even aware of the case before the Federal High Court mentioned in the court ruling that the application of the AD was struck out, and the court refused to join the party as a defendant.
In a statement by the factional secretary, Rafiu Salau, the party said it does not see anything special in a struggle for a name since they believe that the ideology of a political party and the manifestos of candidates are more important because they determine the level of dividends of democracy for the people.
“The party knows that it is the responsibility of INEC to determine the registration of a political party. Therefore, it will not intervene in the duty of the Commission. In addition, the party has confidence in the transparency of the new leadership of the Commission. This is the first leadership of the Body to involve all political parties in the draft, the review and the ratification of Political Parties Code of Conduct and Guidelines for political parties, and it consults with the forum of political parties about any electoral issue.
“The truth is that AD didn’t file any application in the ongoing case between African People’s Congress, a political association, and the Commission. The leaders of AD are surprised that a counsel could represent a registered political party without proper search for the recognised leaders.”
He said that the report has caused acute embarrassment to the party. “Therefore, the party will send a delegation of leaders to meet with the NBA on the norms of the legal profession, in order to annihilate such a thing in the future. Also, the party will write to the Federal High Court that it was not even aware of the case before it.”
Source; National Mirror
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