Ahead of the 2019 general elections, a total of 91 political parties have approached the Independent National Electoral Commission ( INEC ) applying to be registered as political parties ahead of the 2019 general elections.
Although the Chairman of INEC, Prof. Mahmud Yakubu, had said at the stakeholders’ validation conference on the 2017-2017 INEC’s Strategic Plan in Abuja on March 20, 2017, that the commission had received 87 applications for party registration, the figure has increased by four.
Currently, the country has a total of 40 registered political parties.
The Director of Voter Education and Publicity of INEC, Mr. Oluwole Osage-Uzi, confirmed to our correspondent on the telephone on Wednesday that 16 out of 91 associations had paid the compulsory N1m
He said, “91 political associations have signified interest to be registered as political parties and N16 of them have paid the compulsory N1m
“Also, 12 of them have been verified and verification is ongoing.”
The Chief Press Secretary to the Chairman of INEC, Mr. Rotimi Oyekanmi, urged the political associations to give the commission time to follow due process of party registration.
Oyekanmi said in a telephone interview with our correspondent on Wednesday that the commission would not be stampeded into taking decisions as it was bound to follow the processes.
He stated, “Without prejudice to what is going on, parties need to give some time. And I am sure that when you pay, there is a process political parties would have to go through. INEC has a set of rules and regulations; they have to check so many things, they have to check the applications and these things take time.”
