*Says it can’t prove 40m membership claim
Having previously boasted of 40 million membership base, the All Progressives Congress (APC) has now said it could not substantiate such a claim in the light of results of the last presidential election during which the party mustered just about nine million votes
The party has therefore decided that in its new membership drive, only those with the Permanent Voters Card (PVC) will be registered.
This decision was made public at the weekend by Chairman of APC in Cross River State and Secretary of the Forum of APC State Chairmen in Nigeria, Alphonsus Ogah after the Forum met with the National Chairman of the party, Abdullahi Ganduje in Abuja.
The meeting was shortly after the Forum similarly met with President Bola Tinubu at the Aso Rock Villa.
Ogah who spoke about the meeting with the president said Ganduje’s approach to leading the party had been very consultative, even with regards to membership registration.
According to him: “Ganduje is a man who has been so humble consulting state chairmen in every policy particularly the planned e-registration of members of our party.
“Our National Chairman came very prepared. He was focused in doing away with the phantasmagoria and the delusion of APC parading 41 million people when in reality we went into an election where we barely got almost 9 million votes.
“It is time to face the reality because we have a president who is a progressive. We have a national chairman who is a progressive. You have state chairmen who are very progressive minded, and therefore, we will be most comfortable if today we know we have 10 million registered members in APC but we must match them with their PVCs.
“If you don’t have any PVC, we would wait until the time you get your PVCs to now register with us so that we can match your registration with the PVC and we will be able to make a prognostication on what can be the outcome of an election even before 2027”.
On the visit to the President, he explained its call for the sack of non-performing security chiefs, alleging that some persons are out to distract him.
Ogah said; “We made it very clear to Mr President that no reasonable person will expect him as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to take up arms and go round the crannies of Nigeria to fight the criminal elements, bandits, kidnappers and armed robbers. And that is why the constitution of Nigeria has created the security agencies saddled with this responsibility.
“We commended the efforts and contributions of Mr President in terms of moral boost, financial support for equipment procurement and all others. The only added advice we brought to him was that people at the forefront should be held accountable.
“We were very firm but with absolute humility in telling Mr President that district police officers, or divisional police officers, Commissioners of police, SSS, or anybody in the front line of fighting and combating crime who is either lukewarm, taciturn, reticent in being pugnacious should please be shown the way out.
“It was therefore a call on Mr President to wield the big stick on those who are not ready to help him because we have come to the conclusion that some persons are out to distract Mr President and some persons are out to put this party in bad light.”
In his remarks, Ganduje described the meeting as very important, noting that the president has granted the requests of the chairmen, especially with regards to political appointments.
He said; “This is a very important courtesy call you made on Mr President. He is so happy with it and it will continue like this. He has granted your requests especially on political appointments. He is doing something about it.
“He emphasized the issue of electronic registration which we have been working with the consultant and our committee at the headquarters have gone far.
“Now, we are going to the grassroots level. It will be connected across the wards of the Federation but you need to understand the recruitment of officials or personnel who will undertake the exercise because you are involved in the recruitment and you are involved in the execution of the registration”.
