The People’s Coalition Party (PCP) has written to President Muhammadu Buhari, asking him to intervene and restrain the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from deregistering the party and 33 others.
In the letter, signed by the party’s chairman, Chief Don Anthony Harmattan, the party reminded the president of the court judgment, which exempted the party and others from the deregistration process.
Below is the letter in details:
OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU BUHARI
MY ESTEEMED PRESIDENT SIR,
A CALL FOR INEC TO RESPECT COURT ORDER
After several attempts to reach you without success, I am compelled to write you this open letter, hoping no one will sweep it under the carpet without bringing it to your knowledge as was the case in the past.
During my school days when you became the Head of State of Nigeria, you were known as a man who respects rule of law to the extent you swiftly implement the law irrespective of who is involved.
Your excellency Sir, I remember vividly that you went through various political platforms and formations such as the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) a newly formed political party, and now the All Progressives Congress (APC) before your election as President. On one occasion, you even had to wept when you felt that you were robbed of your mandate.
Today, my esteemed president, I can strongly assert that a man of your stature, whose integrity and honour, prompted your overwhelming acceptance by Nigerians, might not be aware that so much has gone wrong in a country you cried for and desired so much to be its president.
Mr President Sir, as the party National Chairman of the Peoples Coalition Party (PCP) which placed third in the 2019 Presidential election, I still don’t understand how the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) under Mr. Yakubu Mahmoud, woke on the morning of February 6, 2020 to de-register our party and 74 others even while the case was still in court and with INEC consistently served.
That despite a court decision of February 17 2020, granting the Prayers of 33 Parties in an interlocutory injunction against INEC, that INEC has continued to behave like a cowboy on a killing spree that is above the law, saying it cannot undo that which it has already done. INEC is just one among many institutions of government under your watch that has considered itself a parallel government and above the law.
I wish to remind you, my esteemed President Muhammadu Buhari that it was these acts of lawlessness that prompted your public weeping when you lost the 2011, and I still can’t fathom why you have allowed heads of these parastatals or institutions to continue to act with impunity. I want to believe that all these misconducts are not brought to your knowledge hence this open letter.
Your Excellency Sir, there’s no gainsaying the fact that 100 political parties in Nigeria is even so little. It is on record that Nigeria has not been funding any of these political parties in comparison to efforts made by previous government so what’s the rationale for the deregistration.
That in my lifetime, I have not seen any mother who gave birth to 10 children and decided to kill five of them because she believes they are too much for her upkeep or she loves some and hate the others, even when she does not feed and support them without getting a reprimand from the law.
Multi-party democracy is one that have been enshrined in our constitution. It does not limit the political landscape to a particular number. The enemies of multi-party democracy have contested this fact before and failed. Democracy is a continuous political education, training and enlightenment and not just winning elections alone. Limiting the political landscape is like limiting the spread of schools and colleges. It’s a fact that it is not every school that enters a football competition that wins it. And does that mean the Ministry of Education will just wake up one day and close the schools that did not win in a sports competition?
INEC, under Yakubu Mahmoud has become not just the greatest enemy of our democracy, but also to multi party democracy in Nigeria. How come our country has degenerated so much to the extent that the INEC Chairman has decided to play to the gallery by refusing to obey a Federal court order on the grounds that he cannot undo that which has already been done!
The question remains that If CPC and APC had been de-registered by the Attahiru Jega-led INEC prior to 2015 elections, how could you have been elected president. The child you kill today may become the president of Nigeria tomorrow. Little did anyone know that PCP, a newly born party that was issued registration certificate in August 2018, contested election in February 2019 could come third in the presidential election. Now, the party is de-registered just one year and half later by Yakubu Mahmoud.
My Esteemed President Buhari, our party the Peoples Coalition Party and 33 other political parties have been exempted by a Federal High Court from being de-registered through an order. We need the full protect of your government. It is my hope that your Excellency will call on INEC to respect without further delay the decision of the court. INEC did not create the law but the law created INEC and that law that created INEC must be respected by INEC.
Chief Don Anthony Chukwuma Harmattan
PCP National Chairman
