Posted on Feb 07, 2020
The deregistration of 74 political parties by the Independent National Electoral Commission amounted to “political assassination”, KOWA Party said on Friday.
The party also faulted its inclusion among those which got the commission’s big stick because it has an elected councillor in Okigwe, Imo State, known to INEC.
“What happened was reprehensible impunity that can’t be allowed to stand. Together with other political parties that have a strong case to pursue, we shall get justice and ensure respect for constitutional due processes”, the party stated.
The acting national chairman of KOWA Party, Mark Adebayo, bared his anger in a statement issued in Abuja and expressed shock at INEC’s “act of illegality in deregistering a party that has an elected councillor.”
He said, “Our disappointment is aggravated because we wrote to INEC about seven months ago informing the commission that the party won a councillorship seat in Amosu Ward of Okigwe LGA of Imo state. We have the acknowledgement copy of that letter in our custody.
“Despite that, INEC went ahead and behaved like a political assassin to deregister the party. KOWA Party is not new to winning elections. We won election to the Bayelsa House of Assembly in 2011. The party has been participating actively in all INEC elections. In 2019 alone, the party sponsored almost 200 candidates in various capacities for the general elections.”