By Kolawole Ojebis
In a bid to have a comprehensive and up-to-date database of its members ahead of the 2027 general elections, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has commenced a nationwide digital membership registration exercise.
This is as the party officially hired a private company, Tunmef Global Limited to execute the project.
The signing ceremony of the agreement with the contractor was concluded at the party secretariat in Abuja on Wednesday night.
In attendance were the Chairman of the Progressive Governors Forum and Governor of Imo State, Hope Uzodimma; his contemporary in Cross Rivers, Bassey Otu; and Kogi State, Usman Ododo.
Others were the National Chairman of the APC, Dr Abdullahi Ganduje, members of the National Working Committee and state chairmen of the party.
Addressing the audience, Uzodimma explained that the initiative underscored the ruling party’s commitment to leveraging technology to enhance its internal processes and maintain its position as a leading political force in Nigeria.
He said, “We must thank Mr President, Bola Tinubu for the wisdom of toeing this path of digital order. All over the world, no one is using analogue anymore. It is now the digital economy, digital politics and even digital social order that we are parading globally.
“This will confirm the integrity of our membership register as a party. If we say we have 10 million people, it must be so. When we go to cast our votes, if we have one million or 500,000 persons in Lagos State, we expect that at least within our folds, 500,000 persons will vote for us because every political party is driven by ideology.
“So, we call on the consultant to endeavour to run this project so we can complete this project within record time. We are not afraid of what the opposition will say. Our duty is to organise our party to be respected all over the world. The APC is not a party built on a platform that is expecting no contest. There is no democracy anywhere in the world without contest. We are expecting the contest but Nigerians will decide.”
Ganduje also shared his sentiment when he expressed gratitude to Tinubu for endorsing the digital transformation agenda.
According to him, the initiative was a long-conceived programme that had finally come to fruition.
“We are always making history as a party. This was a programme conceived a long time ago but didn’t see the light of the day. So, we are happy that this programme has been approved by our President. I have to congratulate the APC for being able to financially sponsor the exercise.
“So, the APC has now gone digital. We are no longer analogue. Now, we must have our own correct data and plan ahead with all the variables according to our own constitution. There is no doubt that the party has got an enormous number of followers.
“But without documentation of this type, we will just be beating about the bush. With this exercise, we are sure of having scientific data which we can always use. You know, during litigation, one sometimes gets a controversial membership list, which may complicate one’s case in court. But with this e-registration, we can easily retrieve our data as it is,” he stated.
Giving an overview of the project, the APC National Legal Adviser, Prof AbdulKareem Kana, explained that the e-registration exercise would link up members’ registration numbers to their National Identity Numbers.
