A Christian advocacy group in Nigeria wants 33 moribund political parties registered for the presidential race to be scrapped, sources said Monday.
The Justice Development and Peace Initiative (JDPI) of the Catholic Diocese of Ekiti in south-western argued that its appeal was in line with the provisions of the 1999 constitution.
The appeal is contained in a letter to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and signed by Rev. Father Emmanuel Akingbade.
The appeal further explained that the Nigerian constitution provided that INEC had unfettered power to de-register a political party which participated in a governorship election and failed to win at least 25 per cent of the votes cast in one local government of the state in the said election.
The clergy expressed the hope that the letter will claim the attention of INEC, especially to the provisions of Section 225A (b) of the 1999 Constitution as provided by the Fourth Alteration, No. 9 Act, 2017.
Father Akingbade urged INEC to exercise the power therein guaranteed against the 33 political parties, which participated in the Ekiti State governorship election held on July 14, 2018.
He further urged the commission to de-register all the political parties that participated in the governorship election with the exception of APC and PDP for outright failure to make 25 per cent of the votes cast in at least one local government area of the state.
All in all, 91 political parties have already registered for Nigeria’s presidential poll billed for next month and to which incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari is running for a second mandate.
