National Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Ajibola Basiru, has said the National Working Committee (NWC) under the leadership of Abdullahi Umar Ganduje is determined to inject sanity in the membership registration process of the party.
Senator Basiru made the declaration on Wednesday on the occasion of the E-Membership Registration, Train the Trainers Workshop organised by the APC NWC.
Addressing the gathering of party faithful and consulting firm to handle the new registration exercise, Senator Ajibola maintained that the claim by previous administrations before Ganduje that the party has 10 million members was not true.
Tribune Online checks revealed that the APC Caretaker/ Extra Convention Planning Committee which was put in place after the removal of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole had put the ruling party membership register at 40 million.
Senator Ajibola however faulted the figure.
He said:” If we have that membership of 45 million, how come we went to poll and got votes of less than 10 million. In line with Amilcar Cabral’s doctrine of ‘tell no lies, claim no easy victories’, that has exhumed the lie.
“In exposing that, it is not to ridicule anybody. It is to know that when a child falls, he will look at the front. But when an elder falls, he will look back to see where he made mistake. We made a mistake because the registers of the party were tools for fighting causes we don’t know. Weaponisation of party register led to corruption. It was on this basis that the National Working Committee decided that one of the cardinal programmes will be to have a digitalized and biometric-based registration system that is linked with the National Identification Number of all members.
“I am glad to say this effort is coming with a vision at this important programme to ‘Train the Trainers’ to ensure that the work is done. Also, knowledge is very essential to leadership. One of the leadership visions of the National Chairman, Dr Abdullahi Ganduje, was to establish a progressive institute to be the engine room of ideological incubation of future generation of leaders and to sharpen the edges of our manifesto. I am here to tell you that the institute has been registered with the CAC and relevant documents obtained.
“This is an exercise we must take with all seriousness to ensure we have a register conducted with integrity.”
In his remarks, National Chairman of the APC, Abdullahi Ganduje, said the E-registration was part of his programmes to reposition the party, strengthen it and enhance its status as truly a Grassroot progressive political Party.
He said: “You may wish to recall that during my inaugural speech in August 2023, I assured our Party members that with my humble self as the National Chairman of our great Party, business is not going to be as usual.
“I specifically promised to initiate new programmes and policies that will further strengthen our Party and enhance our status as truly a Grassroot Progressives Political Party.
“Such programmes and policies include among others include:
“To revive our Party Offices at the Ward, Local Government and State Levels to be functioning throughout the year without necessarily waiting until during campaigns or elections.
“Secondly, to establish the Progressives Institute in order to facilitate the training of Party members, promote the ideal of good governance as well as to institutionalise the Progressive ideology.
“Thirdly, is to commence the process of E-Registration of our members.
“Therefore today, we are gathered here by the grace of GOD in fulfilment and accomplishment of our promise to start the process of digitalizing the membership of our Party. This is an attempt to have graphic idea of the total members of our Party, their geographical spread and demographic divisions.
“This process will not only drive the planning, decision-making and projection process but will serve as basis of reference for any member of our Party seeking appointment at any level or desiring to contest an election.
“The App and Portal on which the prospective trainees from the Thirty-Six (36) States and FCT, Abuja are expected to use will soon be reactivated so that the existing and new members can go online to register and join our party from any part of the world. Each person is expected to provide his or her biometric data which must tally with the details captured in the National Identity Number (NIN).
“By so doing, any member whose name appears on the digital register shall be deemed to be true and faithful member of our great Party.
“May I therefore appeal to our Honourable Ministers who are basically stakeholders on this project to kindly provide us with technical assistance towards achieving these laudable objectives.
“For our trainees, I will also like to appeal to you to please ensure that you learn from this programme so that you go back to your respective states and impart same knowledge to those who will be engaged in this exercise. I must say this exercise is very important and dear to us, therefore we must strive to succeed.”
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