INEC registers two political parties, recognises Wike-backed PDP faction

The Independent National Electoral Commission has registered two new political parties, increasing the total number of political parties in Nigeria to 21.

INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan, announced this on Thursday during the commission’s first quarterly meeting with leaders of political parties.

The newly registered parties are the Democratic Leadership Alliance (DLA) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC).

Amupitan disclosed that while the Democratic Leadership Alliance satisfied all constitutional and regulatory requirements for party registration, the National Democratic Congress was registered in compliance with a judgement of the Federal High Court sitting in Lokoja.

He explained that the commission was legally bound to obey the court ruling, leading to the registration of the NDC despite it not fully meeting the usual registration conditions.

The INEC chairman added that certificates of registration would be formally issued to the two political parties.

Meanwhile, INEC has tacitly recognised the FCT Minister, Nyelsom Wike-backed National Caretaker Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) led by Abdulrahman Mohammed.

The duo of Mohammed and the acting National Secretary, Senator Samuel Anyanwu are part of party leaders attending the quarterly meeting between the commission and political party leaders.

The meeting is meant for only national chairmen and National Secretaries of all registered parties recognised by the Commission.

Recall that the Federal High Court in Ibadan had directed the commission to recognise the Abdulrahman Mohammed-led caretaker Committee as the genuine leadership of the party.