The last might not have been heard of the controversies trailing the registration of the “APC” acronym as the drama took a new twist on Tuesday, with one of the associations jostling to be registered under the acronym, African Peoples Congress, dragging the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) before a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, challenging the refusal of the commission to register it.
African Peoples Congress is seeking a declaration that INEC lacked the discretion to refuse to register an association as a political party, once the conditions stipulated by the said defendant for registration were met. In a motion ex parte filed by their counsel, Ededem Ani of Awa Kalu Chambers, they asked the court to declare that principal members and promoters of the association, known as African Peoples Congress, had met all conditions of eligibility for the registration as a political party.
The plaintiffs also wanted an order directing INEC to register the association known as and called African Peoples Congress as a political party forthwith and an order prohibiting the registration of any other association known as and called African Peoples Congress or having the acronym APC as a political party, pending the hearing and determination of their application.
They are also seeking an order of perpetual injunction restraining INEC from registering any other association or known as and called African People’s Congress or having the acronym ‘APC’ as a political party.
