20 political parties protest exclusion from nominating confab delegates

By The Citizen

No fewer than 20 political parties on Friday in Abuja stated that they were going to court to protest their exclusion from nominating delegates to the national conference, despite satisfying all the necessary conditions.

The national chairman of Progressive Peoples Alliance, Mr. Peter Ameh, told journalists, after the party's National Working Committee meeting that he had received the mandate of other parties for PPA to sue for itself and on behalf of others.

According to him, the PPA is aggrieved by the decision of the Presidential Advisory Committee on National Dialogue as released by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator Pius Anyim, which excluded over 20 political parties from the national conference.

Ameh said PPA was the platform on which ex-Governor Ikedi Ohakim of Imo State, Governor Theodore Orji of Abia state as well as Senator Uche Chukwumerije contested and won elections before defecting to the Peoples Democratic Party.

Also, the man currently representing Ekenemo 2 State Constituency, Victor Prezi of Bayelsa State House of Assembly is a member of the party.

He said, 'Our party has satisfied every provision to be part of the conference. One of the conditions is that a party must have a NWC, National Executive Committee with Headquarters in Abuja and we have State and Ward Executives.

'If you want to go by the provision of Section 78 (2) of the Electoral Act (as amended), our party has also satisfied that condition because it does not require that a man must win House of Representatives election for us to become a parliamentary party.

'The State House of Assembly is also a parliamentary election. We have a member in Bayelsa State House of Assembly who came in the 2011 election. There has snot been any election in which we have failed. We have participated in the governorship elections in Sokoto and Ondo states and other elections. That can be verified from Independent National Electrical Commission.'

Ameh lamented that PPA members would be disenfranchised from the national conference, adding that 'for this reason, we are not going to take it lightly. We will use every lawful means to be able to ensure that members of our party will not be oppressed in a very unjustly manner.' PUNCH