The Secretary-General of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Ajibola Basiru, has raised doubts about the party’s claimed membership strength of 45 million, suggesting that it was a fabricated number used for undisclosed purposes by the current leadership.
Speaking at a workshop on e-membership registration and ‘Train-the-Trainer’ in Abuja, Basiru highlighted the 2023 election as evidence that the figure was inflated.
He pointed out that the APC presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, struggled to amass less than 10 million votes, indicating that the claimed membership strength was far from accurate.
During the party’s convention on March 27, 2022, the Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Committee reported that the party’s membership had grown from 11 million to 41 million due to a registration/revalidation exercise conducted by the outgoing leadership.
Basiru cautioned against the weaponization of party registers, citing the late Guinean nationalist Amilcar Cabral’s doctrine.
Commending the APC National Chairman, Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje, for addressing the issue, Basiru emphasized the importance of the new membership register being linked to the National Identification Number (NIN). He urged trainers and coordinators to only admit individuals with a valid NIN.
Ganduje echoed Basiru’s sentiment, stating that official registration in the APC would require the submission of biometric data aligned with the details captured in the NIN.
This digitalized and biometric-based registration system would not only facilitate planning and decision-making but also serve as a reference for party members seeking appointments or aspiring to contest elections.
Ganduje also announced that the APC portal would soon be reactivated, allowing existing and new members to register online from anywhere in the world. He appealed to honorable ministers to provide technical assistance for the successful implementation of the registration system.
