Politics
Register every member or be removed, Yilwatda directs APC membership registration coordinators
• Over 2m members registered within one week
The National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda, has directed all state coordinators of the party’s ongoing nationwide electronic membership registration to register all party members or face removal.
The national chairman urged the registration coordinators to fulfill their responsibilities.
Yilwatda spoke yesterday during an interaction with all the state registration coordinators at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja.
The national chairman’s directive followed an announcement by APC’s National Secretary, Senator Ajibola Basiru, that the party had registered over 2 million members within one week of the take-off of the nationwide exercise in some states.
The ongoing registration is scheduled to end on January 30.
Yilwatda told the coordinators that no member of the party should be left unregistered, warning that any coordinator who fails would be replaced.
Yilwatda stressed that the job of the coordinators is not ceremonial but a responsibility to strengthen the party.
“If any coordinator does not get all members registered in his or her state, we will drop you and appoint another person. The position you occupy is an opportunity to make the party better,” he said.
The national chairman reminded the coordinators that they are the foot soldiers of the party, stressing that when party structures at the state level are strong and functional, the party itself becomes strong.
He also urged APC state chairmen to cooperate fully with the coordinators to ensure a seamless and successful exercise.
“Nobody contests elections at the national secretariat. Elections are won or lost at the state, senatorial, constituency, local government, and ward levels. The performance of the party rests squarely on you,” he stated.
Yilwatda decried a situation where the party claimed millions of members in a state but recorded very low votes during elections.
The national chairman described such discrepancies as unacceptable.
He added that the APC National Executive Committee (NEC) had created an environment that was conducive to ensuring the success of all party programmes.
According to him, party structures at all levels must begin to reflect real membership strength.
Yilwatda also warned that any State Executive Committee (SEC) member who fails to register before January 30 would be removed from office, stressing that the NEC, the second-highest organ of the party after the convention, has the constitutional authority to enforce compliance.
The national chairman implored all the state chairmen to support the registration process.
“It is not negotiable. This warning must be sounded from the state level down to the ward level,” he said.
Yilwatda condemned sharp practices aimed at blocking or excluding some party members from the registration process.
“No chairman, no coordinator, and not even a governor has the power to stop any party member from being registered. No one must be disenfranchised,” he warned.
To ensure speed and efficiency, Yilwatda directed coordinators to use Android phones where tablets are unavailable, adding that no state should delay the exercise with the excuse of waiting for devices.
The national chairman urged the coordinators to avoid making the exercise unnecessarily expensive for state governments.
He announced that in his state, Plateau, registration officials were recruited from within their wards to ease logistics.
Giving an update on the progress of th3 registration, Yilwatda said Delta State is currently leading, followed by Lagos, Kebbi, Adamawa, and Plateau states.
The national chairman urged other states to emulate their pace and commitment.
He promised to review the progress of the progress in five days.
Yilwatda also linked the electronic registration to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s ongoing reforms, stressing that the party must reflect the same spirit of modernisation and accountability.
“We need accurate data to support the President. We must be different from all other parties. We cannot make decisions on faulty premises. This registration must succeed,” he said.
The national chairman explained that the electronic registration, the first of its kind by any political party in Nigeria, would give APC a credible, verifiable and real-time membership database, as well as enhance internal democracy, improve campaign planning, eliminate fraud, and ensure that party resources are deployed based on real and reliable data.
Also, barely a week into its nationwide electronic membership registration, the APC said it has recorded over 2 million digitally verified members.
The party’s National Secretary, Senator Ajibola Basiru, announced this yesterday in Abuja after a meeting between the National Working Committee (NWC) and state coordinators overseeing the registration.
Basiru explained that the exercise was approved by the party’s NEC at its December meeting, which directed that all APC members nationwide must be digitally registered before the end of this month.
“Despite many states yet to commence the exercise fully, Nigerians who have registered as APC members are already in excess of 2 million. These are digitally verified members with their voter identification numbers, National Identification Numbers (NIN), and telephone contacts,” Basiru said.
The national secretary noted that with increasing momentum across states, the party expected its digital membership to rise to between 8 million and 9 million by the next assessment scheduled for next week.
Commenting on the inclusion of members from states with internal factional disputes, Basiru said: “During the last NEC meeting, Mr. President, who is the leader of the party, stated that nobody or group should be denied the opportunity of being registered. Every group, every factional interest, every personal interest is being taken care of.”
Highlighting the strategic importance of the initiative, Basiru urged party stakeholders at state and grassroots levels to prioritise the registration.
He described it as the foundation to build a cohesive party structure capable of mobilising support for President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.
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