The National Secretary of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Ajibola Basiru, has brought to light the party’s inflated membership figures during the 2023 general elections.
According to the party chieftain, the claims by the APC National Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee, led by Governor Mai Mala Buni, that the party had over 40 million registered members ahead of the 2023 poll was eventually a lie.
Naija News recalls that Mai Mala-Buni’s led committee and conducted a membership registration/revalidation exercise in 2021 and subsequently disclosed after the exercise that over 40 million individuals had registered as party members.
However, Basiru has faulted the claims, pointing out that during the 2023 elections, the APC’s presidential candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who is now the President, struggled to secure even 10 million votes. 
This stark contrast, he said, raises questions about the authenticity of the party’s claim of 45 million members.
Basiru made this revelation during the launch of a train-the-trainer workshop on e-registration of APC members in Abuja on Wednesday.
According to him, political parties must maintain transparency and accuracy in their membership figures, as this forms the foundation of their democratic processes.
The exposure of inflated membership figures underscores the need for a robust and reliable registration system, such as the e-registration initiative being launched.
This will ensure that the party’s membership records are accurate and reflect the true support base.
He said, “If we have that membership of 45 million, how come we went to the 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 a mistake. We made a mistake because the register of the party was a tool for fighting causes we don’t know. The weaponisation of the party register led to corruption.
“It was on this basis that the National Working Committee (NWC) decided that one of the cardinal programmes would be to have a digitalised and biometric-based registration system that is linked with the National Identification Number (NIN) of all members.
“This is an exercise we must take with all seriousness to ensure we have a register conducted with integrity.”
Speaking at the event, the National Chairman of the APC, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, said only those on the e-register would be eligible to contest elections or secure appointments after the exercise.
“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,” Ganduje said.
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