APGA CRISIS: INEC RECOGNISES OYE AS AUTHENTIC PARTY CHAIRMAN

The National Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, Ozonkpu Victor Ike-Oye, was on Thursday given recognition by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC as the authentic leader of the party.

Chief Ike-Oye was among the 18 party Chairmen who were invited to a stakeholders meeting with INEC at the Commission’s headquarters in Abuja.

Chief Oye and two others were on Friday suspended by Chief Jude Okeke faction.

But at the meeting with the INEC Chairman, the breakaway faction led by Chief Okeke was neither invited nor admitted as the meeting discussed issues concerning the coming election in Anambra State as well as future electoral activities.

Speaking with our correspondent, Ike Oye dismissed the Okeke faction as political buccaneers, who are not financial members of the party.

He said the crisis “is not peculiar to APGA alone, it is in every political party but it seems like APGA’s own is becoming very notorious now and this is one thing we have to stop and again the security agencies have a role to play in this situation. If anybody does anything that is illegal, against the law such a person should be dealt with to serve as a deterrent to other people which is the proper thing to do.”

He said the party will deal decisively with anti party activities and insists that the actions of the splinter group are not capable of derailing its determination to retain Anambra Governorship come November 6.

The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has said eighteen political parties have expressed interest to participate and scheduled their primaries for this year’s Anambra Governorship Election in line with the time table released by the commission.

INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, stated this in Abuja during a meeting with political parties on the resumption of the Continuous Voter Registration scheduled to commence later this month across the country.

Professor Yakubu who expressed disaffection over non-compliance with party constitutions in the nomination of candidates by some political parties in the past urged party leaders to always allow the will of members to prevail to avoid litigations after elections.

He commended the contributions of Political Parties towards the just concluded conversion of Voting Points to Polling Units exercise which has also finally moved Seven Hundred and Forty Nine Polling Units to appropriate public facilities for easy access of voters across the country.

Professor Yakubu however, urged them to use the available information of the One Hundred and Seventy Six Thousand Eight Hundred and Forty Six Polling Units across the country to plan for future Elections.

He stressed the need for the political parties to comply and submit their Edo and Ondo Governorship Election Financial reports to the Commission as stipulated Section 92 and 93 of the 2010 Electoral Act (as Amended).

In a remark, National Chairman, Inter Party Advisory Council, IPAC, Dr Leonard Nzenwa, expressed disatisfaction over the destruction of INEC properties in some parts of the country and called on leaders of political parties to support the Election Management Agency in strengthening Democratic System in the country.

Dr Ezenwa commended INEC for breaking the twenty-five years Jinx in the creation and expansion of Polling Units in the country and pledged the Council’s resolve to support every initiative that would enhance Democratic Governance in the country.

Leaders of Seventeen Political Parties attended the INEC Second Quarterly Meeting.