TheCable

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has deregistered 74 political parties.

Mahmood Yakubu, INEC chairman, announced this at a press conference in Abuja on Thursday.

He said this because of their failure to meet various criteria stipulated by the constitution during the elections.

The INEC chairman said the number of Nigeria’s political parties are now 18.

Among the affected parties are: Fresh Party, founded by Chris Okotie, a pastor; National Conscience Party, founded by Gani Fawehinmi, the late human rights lawyer, and Kowa Party.

The national assembly recently amended the constitution to allow INEC deregister political parties on the following grounds: “breach of any of the requirements for registration as a party, failure to win at least 25 percent of the votes cast in one state in a presidential election or 25 percent of the votes cast in one local government area, and failure to win at least one ward in a chairmanship election, one seat in the national or state assembly election or one seat in a councilorship election”.

Yakubu said INEC carried out an assessment of the political parties to determine compliance with the requirements for their registration.

He said they were assessed on the basis of their performance in the general elections as well as in the area council elections in the federal capital territory (FCT), after which 75 were found to not have met the aforementioned criteria.

He, however, said one of the parties — Action Peoples Party — obtained a court order restricting their deregistration.

The 74 de-registered parties are: