APC Expresses Concern Over Low Turnout in Nationwide E-Membership Registration

The All Progressives Congress has voiced concern over the low turnout in its ongoing digital membership registration and has urged state chairmen to take full charge of the process to ensure broad participation across all senatorial districts.

Speaking during the APC e-Membership Registration Train-the-Trainers Workshop for state and FCT chairmen in Abuja, the National Organising Secretary, Sulaiman Argungu, revealed that although a few states were making impressive progress, many others had barely begun. He expressed frustration that some states had recorded almost no activity beyond the individuals nominated to represent their senatorial districts.

He explained that the national secretariat and state organising secretaries were monitoring the data daily to track the number of members signing up. Delta State currently tops the turnout chart with 296,508 registered members while states such as Edo and Cross River have only nine each. Nasarawa and the FCT have five, Osun eight, Imo three, Enugu none, Ogun 292 and Oyo 93.

Argungu stressed that only individuals with INEC voter cards should be enrolled, noting that they must be eligible to vote and be voted for. He added that the workshop was created to familiarise state leaders with the digital registration framework aimed at sanitising and updating the party’s membership records.

He said the initiative would produce a credible digital register of APC members across the country, improve transparency and strengthen mobilisation efforts before the 2027 general elections. He also disclosed that over five million members had already been validated, describing the progress as proof of the party’s renewed commitment to organisational integrity under President Bola Tinubu and APC National Chairman Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda.

Argungu pointed out that the party had long operated with inaccurate figures that never aligned with its membership register. He noted that the reform represents a collective push for modernisation and internal credibility.

The digital registration effort gained momentum two years after the APC National Secretary, Senator Ajibola Basiru, dismissed the party’s previous claim of a 45 million membership base as false. Speaking at the opening of the workshop, Basiru said the 2023 general elections exposed the inaccuracy since the APC presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, secured fewer than 10 million votes. He criticised the previous register as a political weapon that fostered corruption.

He explained that the new digital system, integrated with members’ National Identification Numbers, was introduced to restore trust and order to the party’s internal records. Former APC National Chairman Dr Abdullahi Ganduje supported the reform, emphasising that the digital register would guide future party decisions, planning, and candidate screening.

He said all members would be required to submit biometric details matching their National Identity Number, noting that the process will serve as a reference for appointments and elective ambitions.

With the e-registration drive now entering the state implementation phase, the APC believes the digital overhaul will strengthen its structure and credibility as it prepares for the 2027 general elections.