The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said that there is no shortcut to the registration of any political party in the country.
Sam Olumekun, the National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee for INEC said that despite the frenzy from the rumoured reports of the registration of the All Democratic Alliance (ADA), the party is yet to meet the requirements for the process.
Speaking during an interactive session with journalists in Abuja on Tuesday, Olumekun said INEC has received several letters of intent to register one political party or the other.
He, however, noted that not one has met the requirements needed to proceed to a formal registration application process.
“The truth is that we have so many letters of intent presently and none of them is an application yet. They must first meet the criteria before submitting a letter of intent,” Olumekun said.
Recall that a team of politicians led by former president Atiku Abubakar, ex-governor Nasir El-Rufai and others have been on the frontline of the plan to champion a coalition.
The coalition, the leaders believe would serve as a platform to oust presisent Bola Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) from power.
In a letter signed by Akin Ricketts, the protem national chairman of ADA and Abdullahi Elayo, protem national secretary, the party made its intent for registration known to INEC.
However, Olumekun, in reaction to the move by the coalition leaders said all necessary prerequisites must be met before the application for a party registration is submitted.
He said all procedures outlined in the 2022 Electoral Act and INEC’s internal guidelines must be strictly complied with for the process to pull through.
