By EgbemaVoice,
No group has applied for registration as a political party, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said.
The electoral umpire insists that associations seeking to be registered as political parties must follow laid-down guidelines and abide by the legal and administrative requirements for registration.
Admitting that over 100 associations are in the queue, the commission said none of them has submitted a formal application to it yet.
National Commissioner and Chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee, Sam Olumekun, told The Nation that what INEC has received so far are letters of intent and not formal applications.
The media space has been awash with the request by the All Democratic Alliance (ADA) for registration as a political party ahead of the 2027 elections.
ADA has been linked to the coalition being promoted by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, former governors Nasir El-Rufai (Kaduna) and Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers).
According to Olumekun, the first stage is to submit a letter of intent.
He said groups wishing to be registered as political parties must first meet the criteria for registration before submitting a formal application for registration.
He said: “The truth is that we have so many letters of intent presently and none of them is an application yet.
“They must first meet the criteria before submitting a letter of intent.”
INEC regulations and guidelines for the registration of new political parties, obtained by our reporter, spell out the various processes leading to the registration of any association as a political party.
• An association intending to register as a political party shall submit its application to the commission not later than 12 months before a general election in line with the provisions of the Electoral Act 2022.
• An association intending to be registered as a political party shall submit a letter of intent along with its proposed name, symbol and acronym to the commission.
• The commission shall, within 90 days of receipt of the letter of intent, convey in writing provisional approval of the availability and suitability or otherwise of the proposed name, symbol and acronym to the association.
• The commission shall reserve the proposed name, symbol and acronym for a period not exceeding 30 days from the date of conveying the provisional approval and the association shall within 30 days from the receipt of provisional approval, make payment of an administrative fee as determined by the Commission and obtain a receipt from the Commission.
The association is also required to pay an administrative fee before the continuation of the processes of registration process, which includes filling out a prescribed form and the verification of all information provided by the association.
“Upon receipt of evidence of payment, the Chairman of the Commission shall issue an Access Code to the Chairman or Secretary of the association for download and submission of Form EC 15A (1). The Form EC 15A (1) shall be completed, uploaded and submitted to the commission’s dedicated portal within 30 days of issuance of the Access Code.
“The Form EC 15A (1) shall be submitted together with soft copies of the following documents: (a). Constitution of the proposed political party; (b) proposed manifesto of the political party; (c) title deed, tenancy agreement or other evidence of lawful occupation of its headquarters in the Federal Capital Territory; (d) register of members of the association which includes their names, addresses, phone numbers and email; and (e) a sworn affidavit by the National Chairman or National Secretary of the association confirming the authenticity of the information and contents of the documents.
“A hard copy of form EC 15A (1) and all the accompanying documents shall also be submitted to the commission.
“The commission shall, upon receipt of the online application form and other accompanying documents, vet the application and, within 60 days, communicate the outcome of this prima facie evaluation to the association. Where the application fails, the reasons for the failure shall be clearly stated, and the application shall be terminated.
“Where the prima facie evaluation is successful, the association’s application shall be processed in line with these regulations and guidelines.
“The prima facie evaluation shall involve an evaluation and vetting of the Form EC 15A (1) and accompanying documents to ascertain that they are complete and meet all the legal and administrative requirements for further processing of the application.
“Where at any stage of the registration process it is discovered that the same set of persons submitted more than one application or that any aspect of the submission is false, such an application shall be invalidated.”
The processing of the registration, according to the guidelines, will only begin if the association meets all the requirements.
“Where an association seeking registration as a political party meets all the requirements for processing its application based on the prima facie evaluation, its application shall be processed by verifying the claims of the association, including site visits to ensure compliance with the requirement for registration as a political party, as specified by law.”
In addition to the prima facie evaluation, the commission is expected to carry out verification of the claims by the association seeking registration by ascertaining that “the national executive committee of the association reflects the federal character principle which requires that members of the national executive committee must come from at least 24 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT)”.
Other requirements are that: “The constitution and manifesto of the association comply with the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), the Electoral Act 2022 and these Regulations and Guidelines.
“The name, acronym, motto, or symbol does not offend the provision of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), the Electoral Act 2022 and these regulations and guidelines.
“The constitution and manifesto of the association conform to the fundamental objectives and directive principles of state policy as contained in Chapter II of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended).
“The names and addresses of the national officers of the association shall be verified when supported with the following documents: (a) Proof of identity of each member with either a valid Driver’s License, International Passport, National Identity Card or Permanent Voter’s Card; (b) Indigene certificate confirming that members of the National Executive Committee are indigenes of the States indicated against their names in Form EC 15A(1); (c) Physical attendance of members of the National Executive Committee during the verification in line with the COVID-19 safety protocol and other public health protocols; and (d) Evidence of payment of the prescribed administrative fee as determined by the commission.”
On the conditions for registration as a political party, it says: “No association by whatever name called shall be registered as a political party unless the association submits to the chairman of the commission the following documents, which shall be administratively checked to ensure conformity with the checklist or verification criteria for registration:
“The names, residential addresses and states of origin of members of its national executive committee and the records of proceedings of the meeting where these officers were elected.
“The minutes of the meeting of members of its National Executive Committee indicating approval and adoption of the name, acronym, constitution, manifesto and symbol and flag of the proposed political party.
“The membership register of the association to be submitted in both hard and soft copies and (iv), evidence of payment of an administrative fee as prescribed by the Commission.
“The name and acronym of the association, which shall not be the same as the name or acronym of an existing party or any known registered political party or too similar as to create confusion or doubt in the mind of an ordinary voter during an election; not have any ethnic, religious, professional or other sectional connotation; and not give the appearance that its activities are confined to only a certain part of the country.”
The guidelines further state: “The new political party shall be issued a signed and sealed certificate of registration through its National Chairman or National Secretary on a date set by the Commission.
“Where the commission is not satisfied that the political association has fulfilled all the conditions prescribed for registration, it shall not register such a political association as a political party and shall notify the association within 90 days of the commission’s receipt of Form EC 15A (1) and other documents supporting the application.
“In notifying the association of the failure of its application, the commission shall state in writing the reasons for its refusal to register.
“Any false declaration shall result in non-registration of an association as a political party or the withdrawal of its certificate of registration by the commission.
“An association’s national executive committee or any of its principal officers, who gives false or misleading information, commits an offence and shall be prosecuted by the commission in line with the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022.”
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