Party deregistration- A rude shock-Fresh party, an exercise in futility- Braithwaite

Following the deregistration of 28 political parties by the Independent National Electoral Commission on Thursday, December 6, 2012, one of the affected parties, FRESH (Fresh Democratic Party) has said the action came as a rude shock to the party and noted that INEC’s behaviour was an affront on the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. In a statement issued on Friday by the Director, Media and Publicity of FRESH, Ladi Ayodeji, the party said the commission had made good its long standing threat to embark on this undemocratic action against all rationale thinking and public opinion.  “We condemn and reject this unilateral and anti-democratic action which is designed to further shut out the opposition from the democratic space; and we would seek legal redress for this injustice in the court of law. It is obvious that the ruling party, the PDP is afraid of the growing stature and acceptability of our party and therefore uses this arm twisting tactic to remove our party from the list.” The statement continued, “It is unheard of that a ruling party will unilaterally decide that the size, spread and strength of opposition parties should be the basis of their existence, when the constitution provides for freedom of association of groups or persons of diverse creed or political persuasions and philosophies. You will recall that the Court of Appeal, Abuja Division in an appeal filed by Peoples Redemption Party and others on the issue of registration stated succinctly and unambiguously that INEC had no power to refuse to register a party that has fulfilled the required constitutional provision; and by extension no power whatsoever to de-register a party that has fulfilled all constitutional stipulations.” FRESH added that every party evolves and would later grow into a big one and decried the action of the PDP who was already writing off smaller opposition parties. “Every party is evolving. The young shall grow, as they say. A small party can grow into a big party over time. A regional party can, through mergers for instance, grow into a big national party. We have seen that happen everywhere including here in our beloved country. Our nascent democracy is only 13years old and the PDP is already writing off smaller opposition parties, which it obviously perceives as threats to its hegemony because of the strong personalities behind these parties” The party said “The PDP cannot adjudicate in a matter in which it has a clear, vested interest. It cannot determine by force of its present numerical strength in the federal legislature to decide which parties it approves to be its opponent in electoral contests. To allow this unlawful deregistration to stand in this era of deregulation is to condone a perpetration of injustice by the ruling party against the opposition. It would amount to a tyranny of the majority. Also, the leader of the National Action Coalition, Tunji Braithwaite has described the action of the Independent National Commission (INEC) as an “exercise in futility”. Braithwaite, in a chat with newsmen on Friday also said the 1999 constitution which the Commission laid claim to have acted within its capacity was no longer considered valid by the people of Nigeria. He added that INEC merely made the pronouncement in vain and was using fraudulent means to help the Government achieve its tenure elongation plan. Furthermore, Alhaji Balarabe Musa, the Chairman of Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP) lent his voice to the debate by saying INEC had no constitutional powers to take such actions. Meanwhile, Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has advocated for a two-party system because according to him, this will make the country have a vibrant and workable democracy.