Umar Ardo, the promoter of the Alliance for Democratic Action (ADA), has stated reasons for his opposition to the registration of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Ardo was reported to have said this on Thursday during an appearance on Arise Television’s Morning Show programme.
He claimed the NDC failed to follow constitutional and electoral procedures for registering a political party.
According to Ardo, the process of registering a political party begins with the formation of an association and submission of a formal letter of intent with the proposed party name, acronym and logo to INEC.
He said the NDC first wrote to the INEC for registration but the commission rejected the request on the grounds that the party’s logo was said to be similar to those of existing political parties and associations.
Ardo said the association should have gone to court within 14 days to challenge the decision, but instead asked INEC to review its decision.
“The commission did not respond, so we went to court, based on the strength of our letter of intent,” he said.
That was not enough to prove compliance with the Electoral Act and constitutional requirements, he said.
Ardo said associations seeking registration should complete Form EC15 and upload relevant documents to INEC’s portal, including the party constitution, manifesto, list of national executive members and evidence of payment of prescribed fees.
He alleged that before taking the matter to court, the NDC neither completed the form nor uploaded the necessary documents.
“INEC knew the association had not met the requirements for registration,” Ardo said.
He said the commission should have fought and appealed the court judgement in favour of the NDC.
“Why I am against NDC? he said. I need to justify that, so that the castigation against me, and then the misunderstanding by a lot of Nigerians, maybe assuaged
“You know, before you register a political party, the steps are one, you form an association. So they formed an association of the Nigerian Democratic Congress (NDC).
“Then you will write a letter of intent to INEC and tell INEC that we have formed this association and we are serious about being registered as a political party. This is the association’s name. This is the logo of the association, this is the acronym of the association. Can you open the portal to us to apply in the portal by filling in EC15? This is the form you have to fill in if you wish to register.
The letter of intent was sent by the NDC to INEC. “Well, NDC, this is your registration, said INEC back to NDC. Your logo is different and we can not continue with it. It’s like other political parties and political associations, we can’t go with you.
“Then the law says if INEC writes such a letter within 14 days, you should go to court. But NDC wrote back to INEC now and said, INEC, reconsider your position. INEC did not respond.
“NDC wrote again after about a month or so. Said, we are giving you one month, you know, one week to think about it.
“INEC did not respond. And then NDC took this letter and went to court. And with that letter, the court said NDC met all the requirements of the Constitution, all the requirements of the Electoral Act and all the guidelines which is not true.
“This is because until you fill in the form EC 15 where you upload the name of your party. 2, you upload this acronym . 3, you upload the logo. Four, you upload the Constitution. Five, you post the manifesto. Six, you upload the executive members, the national executive members. Seven, then you upload the fee.” You even have to pay a fee and get the receipt for INEC to give you access to the portal.
“You need to upload it. You have to upload 29 documents to prove that you have applied for it. NDC did not. NDC paid not. NDC did not complete that form. NDC did nothing. NDC just took one letter to court, and the court said, You have done all. If NDC can deceive the court, if NDC can deceive the gullible Nigerians, NDC could not deceive INEC for INEC knows the truth. “INEC knows that NDC did not apply. So when they came with that judgment, INEC should have resisted and appealed.”
