Against the backdrop of the ban on his political party and 27 others by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) last week, the National Chairman of Fresh Democratic Party (FDP) and its presidential candidate in the 2011 elections, Pastor Chris Okotie, has vowed to contest the 2015 presidential election, noting that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) deliberately expunged some political parties in order to silence the voice of the oppositions.
FDP, in a statement issued yesterday in Lagos by its Director of Media and Publicity, Mr Ladi Ayodeji, noted that the party is not perturbed by the action of INEC, adding that the proscription would not affect the presidential ambition of Okotie in 2015.
Okotie said: “The so- called deregistration will not be allowed to stand. The PDP has no right to kill other parties in order to perpetuate itself in power.” While criticising INEC for acting a PDP script, the cleric-turned-politician said the commission’s action would not deter him from his “commitment to promote good governance and a paradigm shift in the political configuration of the nation, whether the governing cabal likes it or not.”
He pointed out that his party has engaged the service of a constitutional lawyer, Dr Fred Agbaje, to lead a team of legal icons to challenge the INEC’s decision in the law court.
It would be recalled that the INEC in exercising the powers vested in it by the Electoral Act 2010, once again wielded the big stick when it de-registered 28 political parties last week.
It had earlier deregistered seven political parties in August last year. Meanwhile, Okoite’s church, the House of God Church, has donated N5 million to its KARIS award winner and four other charitable organisations at its GRACE 2012 programme in Lagos.
The General Overseer of the church, Okotie, handed over a cheque for N1 million naira to Mrs Victoria Audu, wife of the posthumous KARIS award winner for 2012, late Prof. Ishaya Audu and four other charity organisations: Pacelli School for the Blind and Partially Sighted, Strong Tower Mission, Spinal Cord Injuries Association of Nigeria and the Sunshine Foundation, which also got N1 million donation each.
Source: National Mirror
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