The All Progressives Congress says it has recorded a significant boost in its nationwide membership drive following the launch of its electronic registration platform, with over two million registering within one week.
The party’s National Secretary, Senator Ajibola Basiru, disclosed this while addressing journalists in Abuja on Monday, saying the APC is projecting between eight and nine million registered members in the coming days.
But the opposition party expressed concern, alleging that the e-registration was part of a grand 2027 rigging plot.
The National Executive Committee of the APC, alongside other party organs, had last year approved the adoption of electronic registration to accurately ascertain the party’s actual membership strength nationwide.
Basiru explained that the online nature of the exercise enables real-time monitoring, transparency and credibility.
“The NEC is the second most powerful organ of the party. And it gave a directive that before the end of January, we want all our members to be digitally identified. The significance of the registration is underscored by the fact that data is very important to the operational efficiency of any organisation, no less than that of a political party that thrives on mobilisation, organisation, and consultation of leaders. The National Chairman also charged the state coordinators to ensure that the exercise is in full throttle before the end of the week.
“And of course, any states that are found lacking, we at the National Working Committee have been given the latitude to change the status of state coordinators if they are not ongoing. And of course, we also have the mandate to take a look at the state-by-state affairs of the membership registration.
“We are happy to inform the Nigerian people that as of today, just a week into the exercise, with many states yet to even start in full throttle, Nigerians who are registered as members of APC are already in excess of two million members who are digitally verified and have their names and voter identification numbers.
“We emphasise that in a couple of days, particularly when we make another assessment by next week, we should be in the region of about eight or nine million in membership, by the grace of God.”
Basiru called on all party stakeholders across the states to take the exercise seriously, describing it as fundamental to building a strong and organic party capable of mobilising Nigerians in support of the Renewed Hope agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
“We also commend the involvement of all our party stakeholders at the state level. They have committed time, energy, and resources in mobilizing for the success of the exercise,” he added.
Meanwhile, the National Chairman of the APC, Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda, has directed all coordinators of the ongoing nationwide electronic registration exercise across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory to ensure that every party member is registered, warning that failure would attract sanctions.
According to a statement on Monday by his Special Adviser on Media and Communications Strategy, Abimbola Tooki, Yilwatda issued the directive during a meeting with state registration coordinators at the party’s National Secretariat in Abuja.
The statement noted that all State Organising Secretaries serve as coordinators for the exercise, except where any was not trained.
