All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) has slammed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) over deregistration of seven political parties in the country.
According to a statement signed by the national chairman of the ANPP, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, stated that, “It is our view that political parties should exist at the pleasure of the electorate who have the ultimate decision as to whether parties should exist or not by popular votes during elections.
“It is wrong for parties to be deregistered on account of their performance during an election since parties that fail to win elections today could do better in subsequent elections.”
The party further stated that, “It is important to point out that the leaders and members of these parties that have been deregistered can at a future date form new political parties.
“Our great party is worried that by its action, INEC has fatally injured the inalienable right of the Nigerian people to free choice in the political process. Political parties are living organisms.”
The party however conceded that, “Their life and death, (political parties) can only be determined by the source of their existence. By the action of INEC in this regard, it has removed the Nigerian people from the sacred responsibility of exercising its sovereign control in a multi-party democracy.
It therefore called on the National Assembly to immediately act and halt INEC, stating, “We call on the National Assembly to initiate immediate steps to amend the relevant sections of the Electoral Act from where INEC derived its powers to deregister political parties. Our great party strongly believes that at this stage of our development as a nation, efforts should be made to ensure that we deepen the base and broaden the reach of our multi-party democracy in order to guarantee free choice, consolidate the power of the vote and strengthen the sanctity of the electorate as the inviolable residence of popular sovereignty.”
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