The story is from DailyPost
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.
PDP, 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.