By OLASUNKANMI AKONI

LAGOS — Lagos State chapter of the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, has warned the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC, against frustrating the registration of the newly formed All Progressives Congress APC, saying it has satisfactorily fulfilled all INEC’s- registration requirements.

State Publicity Secretary of  ACN, Mr. Joe Igbokwe, in a statement, yesterday, said INEC risked plunging the country into intractable crisis if it continued to pander to the dictates of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to stall the registration of APC.

According to him, “We advise INEC to quickly register APC without delay as nothing stands between APC and registration except the desperate antics of PDP. INEC has no choice not to register the APC having satisfactorily fulfilled all INEC registration requirements. We are all aware that no court ruling has stopped the registration of the authentic APC as to warrant the present dilly dallying of the registration of APC.

“We feel that APC has painstakingly and thoroughly satisfied all registration requirements expected from merging parties to form a new party.

“We feel that APC has ridden through all landmines put on its way by the PDP, which has lost sleep since the emergence of the party. In a matter that is clearly constitutional and guided by relevant laws of the land, we believe that INEC has no known reason to deny the APC registration except pandering to the desperate antics of the PDP.”

“We warn that such will spell doom for the country and democracy so we advise INEC to hasten and give due recognition to APC, as nothing stands between APC and registration. Lagos ACN is aware that PDP has been having sleepless nights since the emergence of APC.

“We are aware that the PDP, in fulfilment of its desperation, has been procuring series of mischief and antics to stall the registration of APC.

“We are aware that one of such antics was the procurement of a phantom APC by members of the PDP so as to frustrate APC’s right to its acronym. Nigerians are aware of the thick layer of mischief the emergence of the phantom APC inflicted on the Nigerian polity and how INEC was prevailed upon by widespread public sentiment, to disallow the phantom INEC from registration.

“Nigerians are also aware that the PDP and its hirelings behind the phantom APC have continued to lay spurious claim to the acronym without any legitimate process of advancing its registration, knowing that it is a spurious phantom.

“We warn that Nigeria risks a major crisis if INEC should continue obstructing the registration of the APC. We warn that we have been patient enough to allow the full satisfaction of the requirements of the Electoral Law. Having done so, we feel that any move to frustrate the emergence of this idea whose time has come, will spell doom for the country and the democratic process.”