•Prince Adewole Adebayo
The presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party, Prince Adewole Adebayo, has condemned in strong terms the deregistration of five political parties yesterday.
The Frontier reports that a Federal High Court in Abuja yesterday passed a judgment deregistering the African Democratic Congress (ADC) Action Alliance (AA), Action People’s Alliance (APP) Accord Party (AP), and Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) for allegedly failing to meet constitutional and electoral performance requirements, following a suit by the National Forum of Former Legislators.
But in a statement today made available to The Frontier, the politician cum legal practitioner said the deregistration of the political parties is a bad omen for Nigeria’s democracy.
“There is no constitutional, legal or moral basis for these alternative democratic platforms to be truncated and thwarted by the government with the aid of a judicial decree.
“That this unconstitutional and plainly undemocratic order is coming up just days after we celebrated June 12 Democracy Day with a public holiday and hollow fanfare and national awards,” he said.
Adebayo called on all lovers of democracy to standard firmly in solidarity with the affected parties.
“The fact that my political party @TheSDPNg is not affected by this unfortunate situation does not excuse my silence in the face of injustice.
“All lovers of democracy must stand strongly and solidly in solidarity with the African Democratic Congress (ADC) Action Alliance (AA), Action People’s Alliance (APP) Accord Party (AP), and Zenith Labour Party (ZLP).”
Continuing he said, “The broader the social, political economic, religious, cultural and ideological diversities in Nigeria the more imperative to offer a diversity of political party platforms for Nigerians from all walks of life and sundry persuasions to pursue their own political activities.
“I therefore offer myself to all those affected political parties to pursue justice and restoration through all legitimate means. I also include in my presidential agenda the need to defang the serpentine INEC from abusive powers and amend the Constitution to remove the powers of @INEC to register political parties.
“All political associations should be free to nominate candidates for elections and pay a statutory monetary deposit which any political parties that do not win 10% of the votes shall lose their statutory deposit. @INEC can therefore be limited to ensuring free fair and credible elections only.
“We do not need more constraints and overheating the political temperature in Nigeria when we should be focusing squarely on bidding.”
