The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has cautioned the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) not to attend, monitor or supervise the Saturday, March 26, 2022 jamboree being organized by the defunct All Progressives Congress (APC) in the name of a National Convention.
The PDP in a statement on Thursday forewarned that INEC would be going outside its statutory mandate under the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) and the Electoral Act 2022 by attending or monitoring the purported APC National Convention.
“INEC, being a government agency set up by law, that also draws from the budgetary allocation of the country with respect to superintending over electoral processes and management of political parties, can only superintend over and monitor bodies over which it has the mandate to supervise. This presupposes that any such body must be legally operating as a political party under INEC rules and guidelines.
“The APC, having been defunct on December 8, 2020, when it dissolved its National, States as well as Local Government structures ceases, in the eyes of the law, to be a political party and as such cannot be subject of INEC’s regulations with particular reference to its supposed National Convention.
“For emphasis, the APC Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) was established for the singular purpose of organizing the APC National Convention in 2020. The Committee violated the Constitution and the Electoral Act by engaging in party administration, conducting congresses to produce officers at the various state Chapters as well as delegates for APC National Convention.
