Group seeking party registration condemns INEC’s disqualification of 157 associations

The Forum of Associations Seeking Registration as Political Party (FASRAPP) has rejected the exclusion of 157 political associations seeking registration as political parties by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

This was contained in a press statement signed by Mr John Nwobodo, Chairman of the forum and protem National Chairman of I Love Nigeria party and Mr Godwin Udibe, Secretary of the forum and protem National Chairman of Patriots Party.

In the statement made available to newsmen on Friday, the forum urged INEC to reduce the duration for preliminary evaluation of ” Letters of Intent.’

The statement reads in part: “The Forum of Associations Seeking Registration as Political Parties (FASRAPP) has come across press statement dated 11th September, 2025 issued on behalf of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) by Sam Olumekun, mni, National Commissioner and Chairman Information and Voter Education Committee disclosing that only 14 out 171 political associations that submitted letters of intent prequalified to proceed to the application stage. This meant that 157 associations have been excluded.

“FASRAPP is alarmed at this development and wonders what could be the basis for the selective prequalification.

“While the Forum is in anticipation of letters from the commission conveying their reasons for not pre-qualifying 157 associations, it is pertinent in the meantime to state, that INEC has flagrantly abused its own guidelines which mandates it to, within 90 days of receipt of letter of intent, convey in writing provisional approval of the availability and suitability or otherwise of the association’s proposed name, symbol and acronym. ”

FASRAPP noted that INEC unnecessarily allowed letters of intent to pile up, adding that most of the associations that made up the 171 political associations that submitted letters of intent did so since 2024 or earlier.

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The forum said that, INEC in spite of its legal obligations to reserve or reject the names within 90 days, stood on the letters of intent for more than one year.

“We are of the view that 90 days merely to reserve name is outrageous.

“There are just 19 political parties in the country today and therefore the political party’s database or register has few contents.

“The Corporate Affairs Commission with its vast database yet it reserves names within 5 minutes and registration of companies can be concluded the same day.

“On the contrary INEC thrives on analogue, archaic and outdated practices deliberately so to frustrate citizens fundamental rights to form and belong to political parties of their choice, ” it said.

FASRAPP further noted that INEC approved five political associations with discrepancies in their information as published by INEC in its previous regular updates.

“There are instances where the same set of promoters submitted multiple letters of intent for different associations.

“There are also instances of names hitherto not on the INEC list surfacing among the prequalified associations, ” the forum said.

It said that while the forum was not yet sure of the grounds upon which 157 political associations were axed, “we wish to state that the criteria of evaluation at the stage of provisional approval are name, symbol and acronym of the political associations. ”

According to the forum INEC guidelines required a political association intending to be registered as a political party to submit a letter of intent along with its proposed name, symbol, and acronym.

“INEC is required to convey approval of the availability and suitability of the proposed name, symbol, and acronym to the political association within 90 days of receipt of the letter of intent.

“Where a political association is not pre-qualified, it presupposes that the name, symbol, or acronym of the association is unavailable or unsuitable or that one or more necessary particulars such as address, and name of the Protem National Chairman or National Secretary or both are not indicated on the letter of intent, ” the statement said.

The forum said that members of FASRAPP shall meet to appraise the reasons for their exclusion as soon as INEC conveys their reasons for disapproving the names of affected associations and decide on the next steps.