The founder and National Chairman of the United Peoples Grand Alliance, Chief Chekwas Okorie, has told the National Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, Chief Victor Umeh, that his petition to the Independent National Electoral Commission over the move to register UPGA was both absurd and stupid.
In a statement on his behalf by the National Publicity Secretary of UPGA, Okorie further described Umeh’s protest as inelegant and thoughtless.
He said: “The floating of United Peoples Grand Alliance was a final step taken by Chief Chekwas Okorie and his political associates to severe all links with APGA, the party he founded, in other to chart a new political course. This matured, courageous and bold initiative by men and women of patriotic disposition and character has been commended by overwhelming majority of Nigerians.
“Surprisingly Chief Victor Umeh, who ought to celebrate the fact that he now enjoys unfettered liberty to showcase his ability at political party management, has again embarked on the absurdity of writing an unwarranted petition to the Independent National Commission (INEC), against the registration of UPGA. His reason is as absurd as it is stupid.
“What we can make out of Umeh’s inelegant and thoughtless argument is that the electorate would be confused by the acronyms of United Peoples Grand Alliance (UPGA) and All Progressive Grand Alliance – APGA. He further argued unintelligently that the two acronyms sound alike when pronounced.
“It’s laughable that we have to educate Umeh and his band of morons that INEC arranges Party acronyms along with their symbols in alphabetical order on the ballot sheet. There is nobody who is literate up to the primary school level that will be confused in locating either UPGA or APGA on a ballot sheet arranged alphabetically.
“In the same vein an illiterate who relies only on the party symbol to vote for the party of his choice will not be confused about the clear difference between the Rising Sun which is the symbol that will be published with UPGA and the cock which is the symbol of APGA, except if the person is mentally deranged.
“When Umeh unscrupulously and unashamedly addressed the press at the promises of INEC that he had written INEC to direct the commission to refuse the registration of UPGA he displayed the same arrogance and foolishness that have become some of his loathsome personality.
“Umeh has the character of acting before thinking. How come this desperado does not know that party registration by INEC is guided by the clear provisions of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria as amended and the 2010 Electoral Act.
“The promoters of UPGA did their home work thoroughly before applying to the commission for the registration of the party. Due diligence was applied in complying with the guidelines issued to us by INEC. The commission’s acknowledgement of our submission was in consonance with the law.”
Umeh’s protest letter reads: “We in All Progressives Grand Alliance have our reasons for not wanting Chekwas Okorie to register UPGA.
“One is that it is a rule that no political party should have similar acronym or name. The name United Peoples Grand Alliance is similar to All Progressives Grand Alliance. We are opposed to it more particularly as when we wanted to register APGA in 2002 the name we submitted to INEC for registration was United Progressives Grand Alliance, but INEC rejected the name.
We had to adjust to All Progressives Grand Alliance, that is replacing ‘United’ with ‘All’ to be able to scale INEC’s hurdle. That name APGA and UPGA sound similar. Moreover, UPGA has a historical perspective as an acronym. Our people and Nigerians can identify UPGA with the old party called UPGA (United Progressives Grand Alliance).
“Even today some people still pronounce APGA as UPGA. In the South East part of Nigeria, for instance, rural women and men only know UPGA; they don’t understand APGA. That was the old party they knew and supported in the past.
“What Okorie had tried to do was to smartly changed ‘Progressives’ to ‘People’ and that is why it is United Peoples Grand Alliance. Do you observe that some journalists sometimes write All Peoples Grand Alliance instead of All Progressives Grand Alliance?
“In Nigeria, parties are known by their acronyms not the words that they represent. Nigerians know PDP, LPP, APGA, and ACN. If you put it as an exam, many people will not be able to say what they represent; many school children may not write in full Peoples Democratic Party; the same for several illiterate people.
“Some people may not be able to say that APGA is All Progressives Grand Alliance. The electorate know parties in Nigeria by their acronyms – APGA, PDP, UPGA, etc.
“If we allow that UPGA to be used, we will be creating confusion in the mind of the electorate. People who have followed APGA as a party would be confused with the name, UPGA.
” If you go to campaigns and say UPGA, people will hail. If you say APGA, people will think you are saying the same thing because they sound the same. It is one of the cardinal rules that if any association wants to seek registration as a political party, it must ensure that the acronym of the association and the logo do not conflict with the logo and acronym of an existing party. What Okorie is trying to do is to use UPGA to confuse the electorate. It cannot be allowed.”