ARP, NDP and NTP deregistered by INEC

While 28 political parties de registered by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) still threaten war, the INEC yesterday further dropped three more parties from the list. A statement from INEC signed by the Secretary of the commission,

Abdullahi Kaugama indicated that the body acted pursuant to the provisions of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and the Electoral Act, 2010 (as amended). The three parties that got the axe of INEC include the African Renaissance Party (ARP), National Democratic Party (NDP), National Transformation Party (NTP). Kaugama said the de-registration of both African Renaissance Party and National Democratic Party is based on the allegations that the composition of National Executive Committee (NEC) of the parties fail to meet the requirements of Section 223(1) and (2) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999. INEC stated that the parties have “no verifiable headquarters office contrary to Section 222(f) of the 1999 Constitution.

Moreover, INEC also noted that the NDP,  since its registration, has not won a seat in the National or state Assemblies” The statement said the National Transformation Party (NTP) was deregistered because the composition of National Executive Committee (NEC) fails to meet the requirements of Section 223(1) and (2) of the 1999 Constitution, and the party, just like NDP never won any elective post either at the state or National Assembly. . With the latest development, INEC in the past two weeks has weeded off 31 political parties, trimming the number of valid parties to about 34.