Even as the dust raised by the recent de-registration of twenty-eight political parties by the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC is yet to settle, three more political parties have been de-registered by the Commission.
A statement by the Secretary to the Commission, Abdullahi Kaugama, said that the African Renaissance Party (ARP), National Transformation Party (NTP) and the National Democratic Party (NDP) are now off the Commission’s list of registered parties, bringing the number of deregistered parties to 31.
The Commission said it was empowered by 1999 Constitution (as amended) and the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended) to take such actions, based on the grounds that the composition of the parties’ National Executive Committees (NECs) failed to satisfy Section 223(1) and (2) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and it lacked verifiable headquarters, as demanded by Section 222(f) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
It also said that it had deregistered the parties for failure to win a single seat at either the National or State Assemblies.
”The Commission reiterates its commitment to relating with all registered Political Parties as specified by the extant laws of the land”, the statement said.