By EMMANUEL OLONIRUHA

• 157 others fail to meet requirements

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says only 14 out of 171 associations seeking registration as political parties met the requirements to proceed to the next stage.

Mr. Sam Olumekun, INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, disclosed this in a statement after the commission regular meeting on Thursday in Abuja.

Olumekun said that 157 associations failed to meet the requirements.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the 14 associations that met the requirements include African Transformation Party (ATP), All Democratic Alliance (ADA) and the Advance Nigeria Congress (ANC).

It also includes the Abundance Social Party (ASP), African Alliance Party (AAP), Citizens Democratic Alliance (CDA) and the Democratic Leadership Alliance (DLA).

Also included are the Grassroots Initiative Party (GRIP), Green Future Party (GFP), Liberation People’s Party (LPP), National Democratic Party (NDP) and the National Reform Party (NRP).

The others are the Patriotic Peoples Alliance (PPA) and Peoples Freedom Party (PFP).

Olumekun noted that the meeting considered the report of its Committee on the Review of Letters of Intent from associations seeking registration as political parties.

He said that each of the 171 requests was assessed on the basis of its prima facie compliance with the provisions of Section 222 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended).

He added that the associations were also assessed on the compliance with Section 79 (1, 2 and 4) of the Electoral Act 2022 and Clause 2 (i and ii) of the Commission’s Regulations and Guidelines for Political Parties 2022.

“Out of the total number of applications received, 14 associations have met the requirements to proceed to the next stage while 157 have not.

“The Commission shall officially communicate the decision arising from today’s meeting to all the associations in the next 24 hours.

“Meanwhile, the list of the 14 pre-qualified associations has been published on our website and other official platforms for public information,” he said.

Olumekun said that the interim chairmen and secretaries of the pre-qualified associations are invited to a briefing on Wednesday, Sept. 17 at 11 a.m. at the INEC headquarters in Abuja.

The INEC boss added that, in addition to uploading the required information to the portal, it would physically verify all claims by each association in line with its Regulations and Guidelines.

“The final determination of the registrability of the associations as political parties will be made after the physical verification of all their claims to determine compliance with the legal framework.

“We wish to reiterate that party registration is a continuous process under the law.

“The Commission remains open to the consideration of applications that meet the criteria as provided by law,” he said.

Olumekun said at the meeting that the commission also reviewed its preparations for forthcoming off-cycle governorship elections and the end-of-tenure Area Council Election in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). (NAN)