INEC Condition on Elected EXCOS Puts APC Under Pressure

Chairman of ACN Merger
Committee, Chief Tom Ikimi
By Vincent Obia
Opposition leaders moving to form
a merger political party under the
umbrella of All Progressives
Congress are now under pressure in
a bid to meet the condition set by
the Independent National Electoral
Commission for the registration of
the party.
THISDAY learnt INEC had
categorically told the merging
political leaders that the new
opposition party must have its
elected executives in place at all
levels before it could be registered.
The Action Congress of Nigeria,
Congress for Progressive Change, All
Nigeria Peoples party as well as
factions of the All Progressive Grand
Alliance and Democratic Peoples
Party are rooting to form the
opposition APC.
APC formally applied for registration
penultimate Friday but the
confirmation that the prospective
party had approached INEC
emerged on Tuesday when the
Chairman of ACN Merger Committee
and spokesman of the Joint Merger
Committees, Chief Tom Ikimi,
addressed journalists on the issue.
The prospective party had
approached INEC without
constituting its executives and INEC,
according to sources, insisted that
such executives must be in place at
all levels.
“The commission made it clear to
the APC leaders that their executives
must be in place at all levels if the
party would be registered and they
are now battling to fulfill the
condition,” said a source close to
INEC.
THISDAY learnt the party had ceded
the chairmanship of the proposed
party to ACN, secretaryship to CPC
while ANPP is to produce the
treasurer.
In ACN, the party leaders are torn
between Ikimi and its National
Chairman, Chief Bisi Akande.
ACN National Leader, Asiwaju Bola
Tinubu, is pushing Akande for the
chairmanship and former Federal
Capital Territory Minister, Nasir el-
Rufai, for the position of Secretary,
while other non-Yoruba elements in
ACN are rooting for Ikimi to be
chairman.
Those backing the former National
Republican Party chairman, Ikimi, for
the APC chair argue that he is a
moderate and would likely run the
party with views and suggestions
from others.
But they fear Akande would be
amenable to dictation from Tinubu,
arguing that if Akande is chairman,
then its Tinubu that is in charge.
The issue of protem executives
remains a thorny issue in the new
opposition party.
Governors of the parties in the
proposed merger party, who met
late on Monday night to resolve the
disagreement over the sharing of
the party’s leadership positions,
failed to resolve the issue.
The meeting which was held at the
Lagos Governor’s Lodge, Abuja was
attended by most of the governors
but the lingering issue of who takes
what office in the merger party has
continued to pose a major challenge
to the proposed party.
Addressing reporters after their
resumed talks last Tuesday in Abuja,
Ikimi said the coalition formally filed
an application with INEC on June 7
for the registration of APC.
“The request for the approval of the
merging parties have been signed
and submitted by the three
signatories authorised to sign it,” he
said.
Ikimi said those who signed the
documents accompanying the
application were the three chairmen
and secretaries of ACN, CPC and
ANPP who were statutorily permitted
to do so.
“For now, only three parties have
done their convention, ACN, CPC
and ANPP, and these are the ones
authorised to have those documents
signed. There are nine people who
have signed those documents and
the request was submitted last
Friday (June 7),” he said.
Ikimi seemed to confirm the
apprehension over the brewing
leadership crisis threatening the
merger process, when he said the
formation of the APC leadership
structure must respect the principle
of equity and transparency.
On the suspected disagreement
among the constituent parties in the
coalition over the APC leadership,
Ikimi explained that contrary to the
general apprehension that there was
a crisis over the merger
arrangement, the parties had
concluded their meeting under a
peaceful atmosphere.
He said one of the decisions reached
at the merger talks was that the
parties should engage in more
consultations on the outstanding
issues.
The statement read by Ikimi at the
end of the merger meeting stated:
“We are aware that millions of
Nigerians await the final registration
of our new party, the APC, so that
they can avail themselves the
opportunity to take up its
membership.  The plan, hope and
commitment of the merger
committees are that the new party
will be broad-based, open and truly
belong to all its members equally.
To this end, we have all subscribed
to our new constitution and it
defines, quite clearly, the leadership
structure of the party. This principle
underscores equity and fair play
among party members without
prejudice.
“We will therefore strive to
guarantee transparency and internal
party democracy particularly at this
stage of registration. We expect all of
us involved in the process to also
subscribe to and respect these
fundamental principles.”
On the controversy trailing the
decision on APC interim leadership
structure, ACN National Publicity
Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed,
said there was no time limit under
the law compelling the merging
parties to name the leadership.
“There is no time for which we are
to submit a list of our interim
national officers.  We do not owe
anybody any obligation to do so in
one day or three days. We are not
going to satisfy the media or the
public at the expense of the good
health of the party.  We must
understand that this is the first time
this kind of thing is happening. What
we ever had before may be alliances
or coalition, this is the first time
merger is happening and we are
determined we would not do it
wrongly,” he said.