ACN not interested in unity govtAS the general elections draw to a close, the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP) has charged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to immediately start the process of pruning the list of registered political parties in the country by taking off parties that performed poorly in the polls as provided by the Electoral Act 2010.Section 78 (7i, ii) of the Electoral Act 2010 (amended) empowers to the electoral umpire to de-register political parties on grounds of breach of any of the requirements for registration and failure to win a seat in the National Assembly elections.Although the country has 68 registered political parties, only 20 of them participated in the presidential polls, with a handful endorsing the candidacy of President Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and others aligning with Gen. Muhammadu Buhari of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) as well as Malam Ibrahim Shekarau, the standardbearer of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP).The Secretary of the CNPP (South-West), Austin Nnorom, who stated the groups position on the matter, stressed that the 2011 polls had shown that most political parties did not live up to the provisions establishing them.Nnorom said: One of such provisions is participation in elections which majority of the parties stayed away from. Similarly, there is a fundamental provision that political parties have a role to get to the people in the grassroots, which many of them have not met because they have no operational offices nationwide. It would be wrong if INEC fails to commence the deregistration of such parties.Nnorom suggested that INEC should prune the number of political parties in the country to four.On the upcoming supplementary governorship elections in Imo State, the CNPP secretary said: It will be another litmus test for INEC. Imo is one bad egg that if INEC does not get right, will soil their entire record of the 2011 April polls. INEC should put up all machinery to ensure that the polls were transparent and seen by all to be free and fair.Meanwhile, following some media reports to that effect, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) yesterday said it was not interested in the so-called Government of National Unity (GNU) being planned by the PDP-led Federal Government.According to a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed, the ACN is satisfied with its role as the leader of opposition in the next dispensation and fancies itself as a government-in-waiting through future polls.Mohammed stressed that this clarification should dispel the rumours that the ACN has been contacted and that it is in negotiations for a share of ministerial appointments.Also, the partys Chief Bisi Akande, has denied the purported GNU pact with the PDP.Fielding questions from reporters at the Presidential Wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos, Akande, who was accompanied by former Governor of Lagos, Bola Tinubu, described the media reports as false, insisting that the ACN would never work with the PDP at any level.And, the Ekiti State chapter of the ACN has denied media reports that the party is interested in the GNU.Some national dailies (not The Guardian) yesterday reported chairman of the party in Ekiti State, Jide Awe, as saying that the party was keen on joining the PDP-led Federal Government in forming the GNU.Akande stated that Awe would not have made such a statement, saying: It is a lie and I dont think he said so. It is not possible for ACN to work with PDP; its like pairing light with darkness. ACN will never work in any PDP government.Akande argued that Ribadu now has more political clout the country after the contest.He emphasized that the ACN has proved that it was not a regional political party with the grounds it gained outside the South-West in this years polls.Akande said: We are very much on ground in other geo-political zones in the country. Before too long, you will start knowing the reasons why it appears we never won elections in other zones of the country. Over-manipulation overwhelmed us and we are going to prove this in the tribunal very shortly.Mohammed added: Our stand against the so-called Government of National Unity is that it stifles democracy by compromising virile opposition which is a key ingredient of a vibrant democracy, thereby encouraging the emergence of a one-party state. It also stunts development and promotes complacency. We hope this clarification will silence those who have been peddling the lies that our party sold out to the PDP during the presidential election.A statement by the partys Head of the Ekiti ACN Bureau of Public Communications, Yemi Adaramodu said the party as a social-welfarist progressive party cannot exchange marriage vows with the PDP, which had long been seen as the peoples scourge.Meanwhile, the party has reiterated that the state chairman of the ACN in Akwa Ibom, Aniekan Akpan, stands suspended from the party and can, therefore, no longer speak for the ACN.We hope media organisations in particular will take note of this and desist from taking whatever Akpan says as representing the opinion of our party, ACN stressed.The statement warned that any member of the ACN who is interested in the GNU should first quit the party.It also reminded state chairmen of the party to guard their utterances and clear with the national executive committee before commenting on issues such as the GNU.Mohammed wrote: No member, at any level of the party, should trade with our name. State chairmen should comment only on issues within their areas of authority and stop committing the party on issues that are only within the purview of the National Executive committee of the Party.We know that this is the ripe season for food is ready politicians, who are ready to sell their birthright, if necessary, to join any government in power. But as we have always said, we are not willing to compromise our ideals just because we want to share in the spoils of office.He added: If we did not compromise when we have just one state, why should we do so now that we have grown to six states, with the possibility of growing further when we challenge in court those who stole our mandatesTherefore, any member who wishes to work with a PDP government should get out of our party today.The ACN said the era of the partys executives paying courtesy visits to governments of the ruling party in their states is long gone, and that member, no matter how highly placed, who tries to trade with the name of the ACN would be sanctioned accordingly.Adaramodu wrote: Memories of the conjugal disaster between the All Nigeria peoples Party (ANPP) and the PDP in the outgoing dispensation are enough to scare away any wouldbe partner in such unholy engagement.Our stand against the so-called government of national unity is that it stifles democracy by compromising opposition and could encourage one party state.Without diminishing the personality of Mr. President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, the dismal performance of the PDP in its 12-year rule in Nigeria holds no incentive for such association.While we wish Mr. President and the PDP well in their newly captured mandate, the ACN, with her clear ideology of people first, would not be subsumed into the blurred vision of a reactionary rat race party like the PDP.He added: Mr. President is constitutionally empowered to pick his cabinet members wherever he chooses but the ACN has a lot to do in fixing the decay in the newly freed states that the party could not afford to rent out any of her eggheads and sustaining hands.The latent interpretation that was attached to Ekiti ACN chairman, Chief Jide Awes remarks implying that the party supports a Government of National Unity is thus unfathomable and the purported assertion was a momentary relief to the pains of the loss of grounds by the PDP.The ACN values its political health immensely and would not mate with the PDP in a government of national scam to avoid contracting political gonorrhea.Adaramodu also denied reports that the ACN was working to win Ondo State from the Labour Party (LP).He wrote: We also wish to state clearly that we enjoy a cordial relationship with our sister State, Ondo, hence, the alleged plan to take over Ondo State from the Labour party is not true.The people of Ondo State are free to elect their leaders under any political party of their choice, as we dont doubt their love for the progressives.The LP-led administration in Ondo State, is a key partner in the South-West integration agenda aimed at developing the zone politically, economically and socially in collaboration with governments of like minds.
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