Ahead of the 2023 general elections, the All Progressives Congress (APC), disclosed it now has over 40 million members nationwide.
According to the National Secretary of the APC Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC), Senator John James Akpanudoedehe, the party registered over 28 million members during the just concluded membership registration and revalidation exercise.
He noted that APC had 12 million members before the exercise, but with many Nigerians joining the party, the membership has increased to over 40 million.
This was disclosed on Monday when the chairman of APC Caretaker Committee, Governor Mai Mala Buni of Yobe State, hosted non-career ambassadors at the party’s secretariat in Abuja.
According to the data of the Independent National Electoral Committee (INEC), Nigeria has a total of 84,004,084 registered voters during the 2019 general elections.
Going by the INEC figures, APC now has about 48% of the registered voters in Nigeria.
Akpanudoedehe attributed the success of the party’s registration and revalidation exercise to Governor Buni’s leadership.
In his words: “We are blessed to have a focused gentleman as our Chairman. When he came on board, we lost our ground.
“Under his leadership we have regained what we lost and gained more. We had a membership strength of 12 million.
“I want to inform you your Excellencies that, under his leadership the APC has moved to over 40 something million today.
“Since the creation of this party, we have never enjoyed peace and tranquility that we are enjoying today.
“He has brought in some kind of calmness. We are blessed to have him. He is accesssable. He read your speach before you came and he granted everything you requested.”
Recall that many prominent members of the opposition defected to APC during the registration exercise.
Among the prominent individuals are, former chairman of Ebonyi State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Onyekachi Nwebonyi; former Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt. Gen. Oyeabo Azubuike Ihejirika (RTD); former Ogun State Governor, Otunba Gbenga Daniel; and former deputy Governor of Osun State, Senator Iyiola Omisore among others.
