The Independent National Electoral Commission said it received letters of intent from 110 associations seeking to be registered as political parties ahead of the 2027 general election in Nigeria.

The INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, disclosed this on Wednesday in Abuja, during the commission’s quarterly media executive meeting.

He said that the commission would however treat all requests fairly irrespective of the status of their promoters.

According to him, as of Monday, the commission has received letters of intent from 110 associations that wish to register as political parties.

He said, “We are diligently processing the requests in line with the procedure outlined in the law as well as our regulations and guidelines. We have acknowledged all requests received so far, except six received recently which will be done before the end of the week. For emphasis, I wish to inform Nigerians, particularly those interested in registering new political parties, that the handbook containing the regulations and guidelines for political parties 2022 is already available on the commission’s website.”

The INEC chairman however denied insinuations in some quarters that the commission was compromising its independence on the status of the association seeking registration.

He recalled that similar unfounded accusation was made in 2013 that the commission was not keen on the proposed merger of political parties because INEC had “merged with the ruling party” at the time.

“For the record, the present commission registered the largest number of political parties in Nigeria and strictly followed the provision of the electoral legal framework. In the 2019 general election, there were 91 political parties and 73 presidential candidates. The commission was criticised in some quarters for registering too many political parties.

“After the election, the commission also de-registered over 70 political parties as provided by law. We wish to reassure Nigerians that under the current situation; we will continue to be guided by law and act with fairness to all associations seeking registration as political parties.

“We will treat all requests fairly irrespective of the status of their promoters, be they ordinary or prominent citizens. Nigerians will be fully briefed of the actions taken by the commission every step of the way,” he said.

Mr Yakubu disclosed that the commission would today (Wednesday) release the full list of the 110 associations seeking registration, their proposed names, acronyms, addresses and names of their protem chairmen and secretaries. For transparency and public information, the list will be uploaded to our website and social media platforms shortly, while hard copies are included in your folders for this meeting,” he said.

On the conduct of outstanding by-elections and the resumption of the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR), he said that INEC was now able to conduct the by-elections and to resume CVR nationwide.

Speaking on the forthcoming Federal Capital Territory (FCT) area councils’ election, the INEC chairman noted that political parties’ primaries for the election ended on June 30, adding that the delineation details for the territory were already available on the commission’s website.

Also speaking on the upcoming Anambra State governorship election scheduled for August 8, Mr Yakubu said that campaign in public by political parties had already commenced since June 11 and would end on November 6.

He reiterated that the commission would continue to update the public on electoral activities, urging the media to monitor electoral and political activities in the FCT and Anambra State.

He also appealed to the media for prompt online applications for accreditation for the Anambra Governorship once the process commenced.

In his remarks, the President of the Nigerian Union of Journalists, Alhassan Yahaya, commended INEC for the regular media engagement and efforts by the commission to improve elections in the country.

He assured INEC of continued media support while appealing to the commission to prioritise journalists’ safety in the upcoming governorship election in Anambra State.

(NAN)