Office allocation delays APC registration

Registration of the All ProgressivesCongress is being delayed by the disagreement among the merger parties on the sharing of offices.

Saturday PUNCH’s investigationsshowed that a week after the Independent National Electoral Commission asked the APC to submit the list of its officials, the merger parties were yet to agree on the final list of officials.

The parties, the Action Congress of Nigeria, the Congress for Progressive Change and the All Nigeria Peoples Party, had on June 7 submitted the notification of their merger to INEC.

The commission, in a letter dated June 12, 2013, acknowledged the APC’s letter and demanded 35 copies each of its manifesto and constitution.

It was gathered that at the meetings of the merger committee in Abuja on Tuesday and Wednesday, the parties could not agree on who would lead the new group.

A member of the merger committee, who pleaded anonymity, said, “We want to sort out the sharing of offices before responding to INEC’s letter.

“We still have some grey areas, which all the parties will discuss with their caucuses and bring back their decisions to us.”

Our correspondents learnt that while both the ACN and the CPC had been allocated five slots each in the proposed management committee of the APC, ANPP was given four positions.

In the interim management committee of the party, the ACN is producing the national chairman while the ANPP is producing the national secretary and CPC, the treasurer.

Name of officers, who would occupy these offices in the interim, were contained in the notification letter submitted to INEC.

It was gathered that INEC’s letter dated June 12, 2013, made the merger committee to meet on Tuesday and Wednesday.

However, at the end of the meetings, no concrete decision was reached as representatives of the three parties were to meet with the caucuses of their parties in Abuja on Tuesday.

Chief Tom Ikimi had said after the meeting, “We have reviewed the processes that are ongoing with regards to our registration and looked into various issues in order to enable us to carry all the merging parties along.

“This night, there would be caucus meetings of the merging parties and so, we have worked out various things which we want to take to the caucus meetings, where we would meet with the leaders of our various parties to enable us to finalise these matters.

“On interim officers, we have looked into the various issues. We have some forms from INEC, asking for the names of interim officers. At the end of the meeting with our caucuses, we should be able to resolve these matters.”

National Publicity Secretary of the CPC, Mr. Rotimi Fashakin, said the sharing of positions was being worked out.

He said, “We have the issues of who is going to be the national chairman, national secretary, and national treasurer for the party and their deputies.

“So, these positions are being worked out and I am sure we are getting there with the collaboration of the merger committees. The working committees of the parties are also meeting.”