Jeff Amechi Agbodo, Onitsha and Fred Ezeh, Abuja
A non-political organization, Voters Rights International, has petitioned President Muhammadu Buhari to call the Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, to order and revert the de-registration of 74 political parties in accordance with subsisting Appeal Court judgment over the matter.
The group said it had got judgment in 2016 restraining INEC from de-registering political parties, describing INEC’s action as contempt of court and disobedience of the judgment of the court.
President of the group, Mr. Jezie Ekejiuba urged INEC to purge itself of contempt of court by reversing its illegal action.
However, a political parties that failed to meet certain criteria, the United Progressive Party (UPP) has officially collapsed its structures at all levels into the All Progressive Congress (APC).
The party former leaders said the decision to join the ruling APC was taken by the National Executive Committee (NEC) including the Board of Trustees (BOT) and other stakeholders at a meeting in Abuja, yesterday.
Former national chairman of the party, Chekwas Okorie, in a statement said their action was as result of the decision of INEC to de-register UPP and 73 other political parties.
“Before arriving at this final decision, we consulted widely, not only among ourselves but with the leaders and stakeholders of the APC where we have been assured of a warm welcome and equal opportunities available to all bonafide members of the ruling party.
“UPP was registered on 2nd October 2012, and for nearly eight years of existence, we exhibited the highest level of internal party democracy, discipline and cohesion. In this number of years, UPP never experienced any factionalization at any of the levels of the party’s administration and structure.”