APC: Fresh crisis hits merger •Rival APC threatens court action

A fresh crisis appeared to have hit the registration process of the three merging political parties, following their decision to formally apply to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) last week for registration as All Progressives Congress (APC).
Sources close to the electoral body said the merging APC had failed to comply with two key requirements of the constitution and the Electoral Act in the merger process.
According to sources, the merging APC had failed to submit the names of its interim officers, in accordance with Section 222(a) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended.
The merging parties rather submitted the names of officials of the three merging parties who signed the document submitted to INEC.
It was also gathered that the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), one of the merging parties, could not submit its original certificate to INEC, following the refusal of its pioneer chairman, Senator Rufai Hanga, to drop the certificate.

However, the CPC was said to have claimed that its certificate was missing, whereas Senator Hanga had publicly announced that he was in its possession.
Besides, a rival claimant to the acronym APC, the All Progressive Congress of Nigeria, which had in March applied for registration as a political party with the APC acronym, has threatened to secure an injunction restraining INEC from registering the merging APC under the acronym.
National secretary of the rival APC, Mr Oguzie Ikechukwu, said in Abuja on Thursday that his group would not allow INEC register another party with the acronym, having originally applied for the name ahead of the merger group.
He said his group’s application was first sent to INEC on March 5, adding that INEC replied and advised it to consider another acronym, since another political association had applied with the APC acronym.
He said the political group, again on March 28, wrote to INEC, seeking registration as All Progressive Congress of Nigeria (APCN), adding that INEC replied it again through its secretary, Abdulahi Kaugama, claiming that the acronym APCN was similar to a registered political party, Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN).
Ikechukwu stated that APCN, again, wrote to INEC on April 29 and May 10, seeking the details of any party whose acronym coincided with that of the APC it originally applied with.
The political association, again in a letter dated May 22, quoting sections two and five of the Freedom of Information Act, asked to be furnished with details of any political party whose registration was pending at INEC and with the acronym APC.
He expressed surprised that while INEC had not replied its letter, it went ahead to receive application for merger with the acronym APC from the merging political parties on June 5, 2013.
“We wrote them and insisted that in view of our earlier application with the name All Progressive Congress, which you advised us in your letter dated March 15, 2013 to change name, as our acronym is similar to that of another association seeking registration, we, therefore, demanded to be furnished with the name and application of any association whose name is All Progressive Congress of acronym APC and its application is still pending before your commission,” Ikechukwu said.
 INEC’s spokesman, Mr Kayode Idowu, however told the Nigerian Tribune in a telephone chat that the commission had not disqualified the merging party, adding that the document submitted was being processed.
“Application (of the merging parties) has been received and it is being processed according to the Electoral Act,” he said, adding that the result of the verification would be communicated accordingly.