UPN accuses APC of stalling its registration

The Unity Party of Nigeria has accused the All Progressives Congress of conniving with the Independent National Electoral Commission to prevent its registration.

Public Relations Officer of the UPN in Osun State, Mr. Friday Okewu, said this in a statement issued in Osogbo, the state capital, on Thursday.

Okewu said the APC was afraid of losing the governorship elections coming up in Ekiti and Osun states later in the year hence the reason for preventing the UPN from being registered by INEC.

He accused the leadership of the APC of holding a meeting in Osogbo where they agreed that the UPN must be prevented from being registered or its registration be delayed to make people lose interest in the party during the governorship polls in the two states.

Okewu said the only formidable opposition to APC in Osun State was the UPN.

The statement read in part, “The burning issue for the party – UPN, is its registration, having concluded all arrangement to wrest power from the corrupt, deceitful and lying APC administration in the state.

“In accordance with Section 78 (4) of the Electoral Law, we wonder why INEC has been tardy in concluding the registration of our party knowing full well that the party wishes to contest the 2014 gubernatorial election.

“We therefore request INEC to speak up on the alleged connivance with the APC to stall the registration. This is because the news going round in Osun State is that the commission had been bought.”

But the Director of Publicity and Strategy of the APC in Osun State, Mr. Kunle Oyatomi, when contacted, described the allegation as spurious. He said the APC could not stop any organisation from being registered by the electoral body.

Oyatomi said, “ What an accusation? No party or an individual can influence INEC on registration of a political party. It is kindergarten stuff for anybody to accuse the APC of blocking the UPN registration. The problem is them. If they cannot convince INEC that UPN is worthy of being a political party, that is their headache.”

Copyright PUNCH.