Rivers PDP Welcomes INEC’S De-Registration Of Political Parties

The Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) in Rivers State has said it is pleased with the deregistration of 74 political parties by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The State PDP spokesman, Darlington Orji who stated this to The Tide in Port Harcourt said the decision would ensure that only strong parties participate in future elections.
While noting that most of the parties merely exist on the social media, Orji said the constitution is clear on the conditions to meet to become a political party.
According to him, “Some of this political parties only exist in the social media. The constitution is very clear on the conditions to meet before you can be called a political party.
“For me people should be serious in building a political party, rather than making a caricature of the whole thing.
“Take for instance what happened in the 2019 general elections in Rivers State where a political party that did not exist, didn’t even have one ward chairman in Rivers state and their candidate almost emerged as the Governor of the State.
“You see that this people are just there to cause confusion,” the State spokesman of the PDP stated.
Meanwhile, INEC has said the de-registration of 74 parties was not a punitive measure but aimed at sanitising the nation’s electoral system.
Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, Rotimi Onyekanmi, stated this while speaking to newsmen and urged anyone unhappy with the decision to seek legal redress.
“The commission did not take the decision as a punitive measure against political parties. We were just implementing section 225A of the Constitution, the fourth alteration made by the National Assembly.
“And the alteration set some criteria that political parties must now fulfil moving forward, after every four years,” the media aide explained.