The presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress Party (NDCP) in the last presidential election, Dr. Johnson Edosomwan, has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission to stop threatening political parties with deregistration.
The international development consultant said that it is unfair and insensitive for the INEC to be wielding such a huge stick when political parties are struggling through an electoral process.
Edosomwan said that the law is clear on the process and procedure of the deregistration of political parties.
He emphasized that it is wrong for the INEC to bully parties into deregistration since the election process has not been finalized.
He went further to state that “it is this same law that empowers the INEC to deregister political parties that will also stop the INEC from deregistering political parties because firstly, litigations are all over the place which will take time to resolve and we are going to be faced with the inability of some governors to conduct local government elections which is required by the amended constitution before the INEC can decide to deregister any party that did not win a local government election or a councillorship seat or score some percentage in the local government election”.
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Edosomwan said that it is undemocratic for the INEC to target parties for deregistering at this time.
“Targeting political parties for deregistration is hasty and confusing. That shouldn’t be the INEC’s immediate focus at this time. It is unproductive for our democracy and will limit and reduce the vibrancy of our democracy and our democratic values.
“In the interest of our nascent democracy, my advice to the INEC is to focus on all the complaints that are being made and correct the anomalies in its processes in order to build our political process,” Edosomwan.
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