The All Progressives Congress (APC) has recorded a major boost in its ongoing electronic membership registration, enrolling over two million new members within just one week of the exercise.
The party disclosed that with the pace of registration accelerating nationwide, it expects its digitally verified membership to rise to between eight and nine million by the next assessment scheduled for next week.
Speaking on Monday in Abuja while briefing journalists, the APC National Secretary, Ajibola Basiru, said the e-registration exercise is being conducted simultaneously across all states of the federation.
Basiru explained that the party aims to ensure that all its members are digitally captured before the end of January, stressing that accurate data is critical to the operational efficiency of any modern political organisation.
“Before the end of January, we want all our members to be digitally identified. Data is very important to the operational efficiency of any organisation, particularly a political party that thrives on mobilisation, organisation and consultation,” he said.
He added that the APC National Chairman has directed state coordinators to ensure that the exercise is in full swing across their states before the end of the week, warning that underperforming coordinators could be replaced.
“Any state found to be lacking, the National Working Committee has the latitude to change the status of state coordinators if the exercise is not ongoing. We also have the mandate to review the state-by-state status of the membership registration,” Basiru said.
According to him, more than two million Nigerians have already been digitally verified as APC members within one week, with their National Identification Numbers (NIN) and voter identification numbers captured, even as many states are yet to commence the exercise at full scale.
“We envisage that in the coming days, particularly when we make another assessment next week, the figure should be in the region of eight to nine million members,” he added.
Basiru urged party stakeholders at all levels to take the exercise seriously, commending state leaders for committing time, energy and resources to mobilise members for the success of the registration.
He noted that challenges encountered in some areas have been identified and solutions proffered, including manual data capture in locations affected by insecurity or limited internet access.
“Data of intending members in such areas will be manually taken and uploaded where access is available. All members of our party, irrespective of their location or security challenges, will be accommodated in this exercise,” he said.
Basiru said the briefing followed a meeting of the National Working Committee with state coordinators under the leadership of the party’s National Chairman.
