By Ayo Yusuf
The acclaimed largest party in Africa, the All Progressives Congress, APC, has begun the process of consolidating its memberships in preparation for the 2027 elections as it commences the electronic registration of over 40 million members.
The party’s national chairman, Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje, said this when he received a delegation of elected deputy national officers and national executive committee members of the party at the APC secretariat in Abuja on Wednesday.
Decrying the low voter turnout in the 2023 presidential election, Mr. Ganduje said the number of votes garnered by the party was a far cry from the actual strength of its registered members.
He said, “If you will recall, we had over 41 million members. But during the presidential election, we had only eight million. What happened to the rest? This is why we need to be digital and ensure that we are working with the correct data.”
It would be recalled that two years ago the Mai Mala Buni-led National Caretaker Committee conducted a similar nationwide membership registration exercise, which brought the current number to over 40 million.
Speaking with newsmen in Abuja, Mr Ganduje explained that the essence of the innovative electronic registration is to capture the current membership strength of the party.
“Another step that we have taken is that we are reviewing our registration electronically now. The work has already started. You should be ready that all our members will be electronically registered so that we have an exact number physically,” he said.
The former Kano governor also revealed that the APC has concluded plans to establish a National Institute of Democratic Studies to help Nigerians shape their pattern of behaviour in alignment with internationally acceptable democratic culture.
On Tuesday, Mr. Ganduje had promised that the party would continue its winning streak by coming victorious in the Kogi gubernatorial election coming up in November.
Receiving the former deputy governor of the state and chieftain of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, Chief Yomi Awoniyi, who just defected to the APC, at the party headquarters in Abuja, Mr. Ganduje expressed delight at landing such ‘a big fish’ two months before the election.
He said, “As you can see, I am smiling. We are so happy that this big fish is finally in our ocean. It is a good omen. He has come in the right time because we are gearing up for the off-cycle Governorship election in Kogi State.”
Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, who officially presented Mr. Awoniyi to the national chairman said the former deputy governor “has joined us fully and I have come to introduce him to the National Chairman and NWC at the party at the headquarters.
“By the grace of God, this is a sign that the election of 11th November will be a landslide. It will be a victory for APC by the special grace of God.”
Mr. Awoniyi, a well known leader of the opposition in the state had been having a running battle with the leadership of his party over the PDP primary election that produced ex-Kogi West Senator, Dino Melaye, as the party’s governorship candidate.
Awoniyi had lamented that the primary lacked credibility and Senator Melaye’s emergence as the party’s candidate could spell doom for the PDP.
A total of 22 candidates representing various parties are billed to contest the Kogi governorship elections scheduled for November 21, according to a final list published by the Independent National Electoral Commission,
INEC.
