The Action Congress of Nigeria on Sunday said the All Progressives Congress had met all the needed requirements for its registration by the Independent National Electoral Commission.
The party made this known in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed.
The ACN noted that despite the “antics and the challenges of some negative forces” in the polity, the electoral umpire would do what was right concerning the APC registration.
It therefore dismissed as speculative the report that INEC was planning to write a letter to the promoters of APC to find another name following a court case instituted by a political association over the APC acronym.
The party said, “We are convinced that INEC has no discernible reason to write such a letter to us. In the first instance, there exists no court injunction anywhere restraining the commission from registering APC. There could be many court cases, but until there is a court order, no one can preempt what a court will do and act on that basis.
“Again, we have met all the stipulated requirements. INEC has also inspected our proposed headquarters in Abuja and sighted all our interim officers. The merger process may be novel, but we have played according to the rules and we expect nothing less from INEC.”
The party also expressed satisfaction with the statement credited to the INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, that there was no court injunction compelling the commission to stop the merger.
The ACN added, “We believe we are on the same page with INEC as far as this trail-brazing merger is concerned, and that has been confirmed by the INEC spokesman, and we therefore call on the commission to do the proper thing right now – which is the registration of APC.
“There is no doubt that INEC is under tremendous pressure, from both the card-carrying Peoples Democratic Party members of the commission and their collaborators, who are mortally afraid of the merger, and who will want the electoral body to commence, right now, the process of rigging the 2015 election in their favour.
“But we urge INEC not to compromise its neutrality and integrity by acting contrary to the law. We remind the Commission that Nigerians are keenly watching how it will handle this merger issue, and whatever it does will determine whether Nigerians can count on it to organise free, fair and credible elections in 2015.
“Given the already over-heated polity ahead of the 2015 elections, we believe INEC will not do anything that will aggravate the situation.”
Meanwhile, the ACN has appealed to all the supporters of APC to remain calm over the registration issue.
The ACN said, “We know that many of our teeming supporters are upset by the report of the shenanigans in INEC over this issue. But it is important for them to remain law-abiding as we await the decision of INEC. We are confident, going by the words of INEC itself that the court case instituted by those laying claim to the APC acronym has no bearing on what is going on.”
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