2027: El-Rufai vindicated as INEC “blocks” registration of ADA {REASON}
By KEMI KASUMU and OUR REPORTER, Abuja
“I want to believe it was because they knew El-Rufai had seen them all that they now quickly wrapped their unholy plotting under requirements not yet met. How? This INEC is not Tinubu’s property, neither is it APC’s. If they are afraid to stand opposition, they have no business being in politics. But why do they say Sule Lamido lied?”, a concerned respondent asked.
Barely 24 hours after former Kaduna State Governor Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai expressed skepticism about inclination of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) under this Tinubu’s government to register the new coalition party, All Democratic Alliance (ADA), the electoral body has played into the prediction making it come through as preempted.
El-Rufai, in an interview on Arise News Monday night, had said the Tinubu-led government might want to deliberately frustrate the registration to weaken credible opposition ahead of the general elections, although he said the president’s disapproval rating is now at 91 percent in especially Northern and Eastern Nigeria while, even in his own base of Lagos State, he is as unpopular as disapproval rating is at 79 percent.
The INEC’s reason announced on Tuesday was that ADA, which sought registration as a political party, cannot be registered because it was yet to fulfil prerequisites for registration.
INEC’s National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Mr Sam Olumekun, said this during an interactive session with reporters in Abuja.
He said while the Commission had received numerous letters of intent, none is qualified to meet requirements for a formal application for registration.
“The truth is that we have so many letters of intent presently and none of them is an application yet. They must first meet the criteria before submitting a letter of intent,” Olumekun said.
The development comes as the ADA proponents omitted the word ‘electoral’ from their letter addressed to the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) .
The application, dated June 19, was addressed to “The Chairman, Independent National Commission (INEC), 436, Zambezi Crescent, Maitama, Abuja FCT.”
The letter was co-signed by Akin Ricketts, protem national chairman of ADA, and Abdullahi Musa Elayo, protem national secretary, respectively.
Among those linked to the initiative are former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, former governors Nasir El-Rufai (Kaduna) and Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers), former Senate President David Mark, and Labour Party’s 2023 presidential candidate Peter Obi.
INEC, however, said that there is no shortcut to party registration, saying associations seeking political party status must comply strictly with the procedures outlined in the 2022 Electoral Act and INEC’s internal guidelines.
Meanwhile, the INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, is expected to meet with leaders of the 19 registered political parties at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja on Thursday.
The event is part of the consultative stakeholders meeting, that also includes the media, civil society organisations and the nation’s security agencies, under the coordination of Prof. Yakubu and the national security adviser (NSA) Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, who are co-chairmen of the the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES).
A senior INEC official said the INEC Chairman would speak on ADA and related issues at Thursday’s meeting.
The DEFENDER gathered as questions were raised with concerns as yo what INEC actually planned to do, had El-Rufai not spoken out.
“I want to believe it was because they knew El-Rufai had seen them all that they now quickly wrapped their unholy plotting under requirements not yet met. How? This INEC is not Tinubu’s property, neither is it APC’s. If they are afraid to stand opposition, they have no business being in politics. But why do they say Sule Lamido lied?”, a concerned respondent asked on Tuesday.
