Politicians criticise electoral body for registering new parties

Leaders of political parties on Friday criticised the recent registration of new political parties by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The politicians expressed their disappointments in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN in Lagos.

The Chairman of African Democratic Congress in Lagos State, Nkem Lemchi, said the country did not need more political parties.

'INEC’s registration of more political parties in addition to the three or four previously registered after deregistering some others is spurious and calls for questioning.

'Registering more parties now defeats the rationality in the previous deregistration. I do not agree with the registration,' Lemchi said.

He called for reintegration of the parties earlier deregistered.

Also reacting, the Chairman of the Allied Congress Party of Nigeria in the state, Joseph Ogebule, noted that there was no point for INEC to register more parties since it was unable to fund the already existing ones.

'They are not funding the registered parties, what is the purpose of registering more when the 26 on ground have no financial backup.

'This is unacceptable, we do not need more political parties,' he said.

The Chairman of the People’s Democratic Movement in the state, Akin Badmus, also expressed disappointment with the registration of more parties, saying it was difficult for INEC to manage the already registered ones.

'We do not need more political parties, have the 28 already registered parties been managed properly?

'During the last election, only about 10 of them appeared on the ballot papers.

'So we do not need more, the parties are enough for anybody who wants to be in politics to go and join,' Badmus said.

However, the Chairman of the People’s Democratic Party in the state, Olatunji Shelle, said Nigeria needed more political parties to enable the country to build a just society.

'We do need more political parties as the present situation calls for more as there are a lot of uncertainties in our political climate.

'I can foresee a lot of grouping and regrouping.

'The present major political parties have not lived up to expectations hence the need for like and serious minded people to come together to form a party that will be more acceptable to Nigerians,’' Shelle said.

In the same vein, the 2015 governorship candidate of KOWA Party in Lagos State, Gboyega Adeniji, welcomed the registration of new parties.

'It is good for more parties to be registered because like minds will continue to rehabilitate to one side, as you can see Nigeria's democracy is just evolving.

'So new parties will continue to emerge till we get to the Promised Land,’' Adeniji said.

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