Goodbye CPC, ANPP - Parties hold last Conventions and Merge into APC
The merger arrangement among opposition political parties, which will lead to the formal birth of the All Progressives Congress (APC), will today inch closer to fruition, with the national conventions of All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP) and the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC). The two parties are expected to formally wind down and therefrom transform to APC.
The third opposition party in the merger arrangement, Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), had, last month, held its national convention and adopted the name APC. A faction of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), led by Imo State Governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha, is also involved in the merger. Today, the ANPP will hold its convention in Gusau, Zamfara State, while CPC’s convention holds at the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
The convention of the two parties will, among others, consider and adopt the APC constitution, manifesto,
flag, logo and slogan. It will be the last convention they will hold as ANPP and CPC. On February 6, 2013 the parties involved in the merger, announced the formation of the APC. While the ACN, CPC and ANPP are fully involved, the APGA is factionalised. A faction of the party had publicly denied involvement in the merger and insisted that the party was not involved.
Political watchers are wondering how the faction involved in the merger would hold a national convention to formally transform to APC. It is expected that after the CPC and ANPP conventions, the parties would together work to ensure the registration of APC by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Publicity Secretary of the defunct ACN, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, told Saturday Sun yesterday that the parties involved in the merger were making sure that all requirements in the Electoral Act are met. “We shall ensure that we meet all the requirement as contained in the Electoral Act.
After the conventions of the parties, we shall take appropriate step to ensure we are registered,” Mohammed said. According to Section 84 of the Electoral Act, any two or more parties may merge on approval by the commission, following a formal request presented by the political parties for that purpose. Political parties intending to merge shall give INEC 90 days notice of their intention to do so before the general elections.
The written request for merger shall be sent to the chairman of the commission and shall be signed jointly by the national chairmen, secretaries and treasurers of the different political parties proposing the merger and shall be accompanied by: a special resolution passed by the national convention of each of the parties proposing to merge, approving the merger; the proposed full name and acronym, constitution, manifesto, symbol or logo of the party, together with the addresses of the national office of the party resulting from the merger; and evidence of payment of administrative costs of N100, 000 or as may be fixed from time to time by an Act of the National Assembly.
The law also stipulates: “On the receipt of the request for merger of political parties, the commission shall consider the request and fulfill the requirement of the constitution and this Act, approved the proposed merger and communicate its decision to the parties concerned before the expiration of 30 days from the expiration of the day of request. “Provided that the commission fails to communicate its decision within 30 days, the merger shall be deemed to be effective.
“Where the request for the proposed merger is approved, the commission shall withdraw and cancel the certificates of registration of all the political parties opting for the merger and substitute a single certificate of registration in the name of the party resulting from the merger. “Notwithstanding the provisions of subscription (2) of the section, no merger of political parties received by the commission less than 90 days before any general election in the country shall not be considered by the commission.”
