Catholic at war with 33 political parties

The Justice Development and Peace Initiative (JDPI) of the Catholic Diocese of Ekiti has written to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) demanding de-registration of 33 non-performing political parties.

The JDPI said in the letter dated January 12 that it was making the call based on the provisions of the 1999 constitution.

It said that constitution provided that INEC had unfettered power to de-register a political party which participated in a governorship election and failed to win at least 25 per cent of the votes cast in one local government of the state in the said election.

The Director of JDPI, Catholic Diocese of Ekiti, Emmanuel Akingbade, who signed the letter, said the letter was to draw INEC’s attention to the provisions of Section 225A(b) of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria as provided by the Fourth Alteration, No. 9 Act, 2017.

JDPI urged INEC to exercise the power therein guaranteed against the 33 political parties which participated in the Ekiti State governorship election held on July 14, 2018.

It urged the commission to de-register all the political parties that participated in the governorship election with the exception of APC and PDP for outright failure to make 25 per cent of the votes cast in at least one local government area of the state.