The National Chairman of APGA, Chief Victor Umeh, stated this on Thursday just as the African Peoples Congress described the recognition of the APC by INEC as "a black market registration."
Umeh, at a news conference in Abuja, gave Fashola seven days' ultimatum within which to publish a retraction in the newspapers where he published the advertorial congratulating the APC for a successful registration.
He said," Coming from a senior lawyer, we are sure that the governor knows the obvious implications of this advertorial which we detest. It is a mischief contrived to deceive all our teaming supporters in Nigeria and worldwide that APGA has now become part of the APC. Governor Fashola cannot claim not to know that APGA never submitted itself to any merger talks with the three parties(Action Congress of Nigeria, Congress for Progressive Change and All Nigeria Peoples Party) and other interest groups that came together to form the APC.
"He is aware that at no time did any APGA official appear in any meeting where merger talks were held. He is also aware that APGA leadership has consistently made it clear to Nigerians that it was never part of the merger talks and will never be a part of it.
"Surprisingly this (Thursday) morning, our party's logo was so fraudulently inserted in an advertorial with the intention to deceive all our supporters."
Umeh recalled that INEC while announcing the registration of the APC named the parties that merged as the CPC, the ANPP and the ACN, adding that the commission did not say it was withdrawing the certificate of APGA, unlike the other three parties.
Umeh said, "How could a SAN, who is also a governor of a state go and insert an APGA logo in a publication. We want to make it abundantly clear that this was a clearly orchestrated, premeditated action by Governor Fashola to deceive supporters of APGA. On behalf of our party, we are calling on Governor Fashola to publish a retraction of the advertorial removing APGA logo in all the newspapers that our logo appeared today(Thursday) within seven days.
"In addition to our demands for retraction of the publication, we are also referring the matter to our lawyers to formally write Governor Fashola to pay us N2bn in damages or face legal action.
"While we congratulate the APC for realising its dream of becoming a mega party called APC, fraudulently using APGA logo will not be accepted by our party. Politics of confusion must be avoided in Nigeria. Anybody can meet to do whatever he likes but it must be within the law. The process of merging of political parties is clearly known to everybody.
"ACN had its convention where they approved that they would become part of the APC. ANPP had a convention where its members also approved that they would become part of the APC; the same with the CPC. But APGA was not known to have organised any convention to approve joining the APC."
The APGA chairman added another dimension to the controversy over the dumping of over 70 destitute persons in Onitsha, saying it was an attempt by the APC to plan electoral malpractice during election in Anambra State.
He warned that any attempt to use the destitute whom he claimed were non-Nigerians to perpetuate electoral malpractice in the state would be resisted.
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