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From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
The national leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) last week pulled another major string in political party administration when it officially commenced membership e-registration exercise, a major step to digitize the party.
A semblance of the attempt by the APC to formally build a national membership database at its formative stage was in 2014, when, to the admiration of many Nigerians, it secretly started a membership data centre in Lagos ahead of the 2015 general elections.
In what looked like a clear departure from the style of the then ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the APC had claimed that the data centre was to warehouse internal party membership information and serve as an important vehicle to disseminate information to its members for the polls.
However, the objective was shrouded in controversy with PDP alleging plans by the opposition party to clone Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) and deploy technologies to hack into the database of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and compromise the 2015 general elections.
At the height of the politically-motivated intrigue, the Department of State Services (DSS), had clamped down on the centre based on the petition and credible information it received, alleging “unwholesome activities” going on in the building.
The DSS, in a statement from its then spokesperson, Marilyn Ogar, claimed that; “the petition alleged that those behind the activities were cloning INEC PVCs with the intention of hacking into INEC’s database, corrupting it and replacing them with their own data.”
Also descending very hard on the APC, then National Publicity Secretary of PDP, Olisa Metuh, had lambasted the opposition party for fraudulently hiding under the cloak of building a membership database to perfect the plot to rig the 2015 general elections.
The PDP spokesperson had accused APC of hypocritically alleging that security agencies are conniving with INEC to rig elections when in reality, the opposition party was just using it as a smokescreen to build the database and rig the elections through hacking into INEC’s database.
According to Metuh; “This discovery at the APC office in Lagos is a clear confirmation of our stand, and fears by well-meaning Nigerians of APC’s criminal desperation, lust for power, plot to cause confusion and truncate our democracy,.
“APC has been accusing INEC and security agencies of working to rig the 2015 elections in favour of the PDP. Little did Nigerians realise that such were smokescreens designed to divert attention from their heinous and unpatriotic plots.
“We believe that the APC, in its desperate attempt to grab power by all means, has already established cloning and hacking centres in all the 36 states of the federation to actualise their dubious machination to subvert the will of the people.
“Our citizens must therefore remain vigilant and resist any attempt by the APC to steal their mandate. We also call on security agencies to fully investigate this atrocious cloning and
ensure that whoever is found culpable faces the full weight of the law.”
However, dismissing the claims by the duo of PDP and the DSS, former APC spokesman, Lai Mohammed, had frowned at the explanation by the DSS of placing the data centre under surveillance and confirming unwholesome activities taking place in it.
Lai Mohammed, had argued that there was more to it, stressing; “If indeed they put the place under surveillance, would they not have been able to establish that it is an APC Data Centre? Even if they were not sure, what prevents them from obtaining a court order permitting them to enter and search the building instead of carrying out a Gestapo-like operation? Are security agencies above the law?”
Lai Mohammed added that Nigerians should no longer wonder why there had been no positive returns in the fight against Boko Haram if all the nation’s intelligence agency relies on for intelligence-gathering in a politically-charged atmosphere like Nigeria’s was what he described as beer parlour gossips.
“What did they get when they got there? They couldn’t invite us? In 2014, just a few months to the 2015 elections, they are telling us they did not know it was our office. They could not even get the password. How can you say we are cloning PVCs? Where is the evidence now?” Mohammed said, dismissing it as laughable.
On his side, Buhari, then party’s presidential candidate, had frowned at the raid on the data centre by operatives of the DSS, describing it as a reckless act that must be condemned in the strongest possible terms.
“Attempting to defend the indefensible, they fabricate a story that the attack was necessary because criminal activity was taking place at the Centre. These statements are such plain lies,” Buhari chided.
But despite his posture and that of his party, eight years under his watch as president, there was little or no conscious attempt to logistically and financially support his party’s leadership to execute such laudable exercise.
However, regardless of the side of the divide one pinched tent with, the failure of the APC to commence and complete the project in the eight years in power under former president Buhari put a dent to their claims of innocence then.
Interestingly, the second attempt by the APC-led government to build a credible membership register, happened in 2022, when the Governor Mai Mala-Buni-led national leadership under the Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Committee, claimed to have carried out a similar exercise, popularly referred to as membership registration and revalidation across the country.
At the end of the exercise, the party made a bogus claim and announced to Nigerians that its membership strength across the country then had risen from 11 million at an intimidating total number of 41 million.
Celebrating the feat of growing the population of the party members to 41 million, Buni said: “The APC conducted a very successful membership registration and revalidation exercise. We now have over 41 million registered members across the country, with full details of every member.
“APC remains Africa’s largest political party and Nigeria’s ruling party with a population that will always win elections,” the highly-elated Governor Buni had boasted.
But, the claim could not stand the test of time before the 2023 presidential election discredited it when the registered figure failed to reflect in the number of votes, totaling an insignificant nine million, the ruling party got during the election.
And to confirm that the party lacks the empirical data to substantiate the staggering utopic registered figure from the Governor Buni-led regime and perhaps miffed by the ridiculous embarrassments the fake figure caused the party, the current administration of Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, the National Chairman, on assumption of office, admitted and promised that a more believable, digitally-dependable membership registration exercise will be conducted across Nigerians electronically instead of depending on the previous unrealistic party membership figure.
Disassociating the party from the fraudulent membership register, National Secretary, Senator Ajibola Basiru, admitted that the ruling party lied to Nigerians concerning the membership figure, confirming that the planned electronic exercise the party is embarking on will rest the curiosity of many anxious Nigerians.
Speaking during the formal launching of the project, he said: “When a child falls, he will look at the front. But when an elder falls, he will look back to see where he made mistakes. If we have that membership of 41 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 mistakes.
“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 (NWC) decided that one of the cardinal programmes will be to have a digitalised and biometric-based registration system that is linked with the National Identification Number of all members.”
While commenting further on the registration, Basiru, the party’s chief scribe said: “I am glad to say that 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.”
Party’s boss, Ganduje, on his own, had expressed happiness over the commencement of the exercise, describing it as a fulfillment of the promise he gave to the party members on assumption of office.
He emphasised: “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 grassroots progressives political party. One of such programmes and policies among others include commencing the process of e-registration of our members.
“Therefore, we are gathered here in fulfillment and accomplishment of our promise to start the process of digitalising the membership of our party,” he said during the launch.
On the importance of the membership registration, the immediate past governor of Kano State, said: “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 also 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 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).”
To mobilise party members to participate in the process, Ganduje announced severe sanctions for failure to register, stressing: “Any member whose name appears on the digital register shall be deemed to be true and faithful members of our great party.”
Also, presenting an executive summary and other details about the exercise, the party’s technical partners explained that; “the Members Registration Portal is a comprehensive digital solution designed to streamline and enhance the process of member registration, management, and engagement for organisations.
“This platform addresses the inefficiencies and limitations of traditional paper-based or fragmented digital registration systems, providing a unified and user friendly interface for both members and administrators.
“Overall, electronic membership registration is a strategic investment for the party to enhance efficiency, transparency, communication, and improve the party’s overall organisational effectiveness for sustainable growth and success.”
Although in the consideration of many discerning political watchers, membership registration should be the least of the expectations from a party fighting myriads of battles on many fronts. However, the exercise, from all intents and purposes, is a commendable one, should the party’s leadership awake to the responsibility of resolving some endemic hurdles that confronted similar projects in the past.
From the benefits of hindsight, few years ago, when a similar exercise was conducted by the Governor Buni-led Caretaker Committee, it was marred by certain factors like endless litigations, financial constraints, and terrifying combative factional war among other threats from the party’s stakeholders.
The unanswered questions from many pundits should then be the arrangements and measures the national leadership of the party has put in motion to mitigate similar threats, especially in some states where factions are still at each other’s necks, to conduct a smooth process.
For example, in Rivers State, where the peace and unity of the party is still marred by factional crisis, and where many pundits believe the chapter of the party is remoted by non-members, what will be the fate of a major stakeholder like the former Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi and his political structure that are perhaps still bodily part of the APC but spiritually out of the party?
Many have asked about the possibility of Tony Okocha-led Caretaker Committee liberally allowing such far-distance members to freely register or whether he will capitalise on the exercise as an opportunity to finally nail the coffins of the political opponents through denying them registration?
Similar situations where current party leaders could use the fresh digital membership registration as instrument of victimisation might equally play out in some state chapters like Enugu, Benue among others, where some hitherto party stalwarts and chieftains were suspended or still at daggers-drawn in the supremacy battle raging among many gladiators.
Curiously, again, how much of financial mobilisation has the cash-strapped party’s national leadership done to carry out a smooth exercise, especially in many states not under the control of the APC that party members are bleeding and struggling to raise funds to prosecute more pressing projects to give members a sense of belonging and brighten the electoral chances of the party in the states?
Again, what will be the percentage of credibility and acceptability of the project considering the fact that a similar exercise was carried out with the secret intentions to manipulate future elections.
Reacting to the proposed project, a chieftain of the ruling party who craved anonymity described it as a smokescreen to divert attention and placate the intense cold war simmering within the party over the persistent agitations by the North Central party’s stakeholders.
“This is not the first time our party is embarking on this laudable project. Don’t forget that we started it in Lagos shortly after the merger and our registration as a political party before the DSS invaded the data centre, vandalized and disrupted it.
“We all know that the second attempt tagged revalidation by the Governor Buni-led Caretaker Committee was largely seen as election-rigging weapon and cannot be accepted as the true reflection of the authentic numerical strength of our party.
“I want to believe that the intention behind this one is, to a large extent, genuine. My fears however are that some state leaders might use it as instrument of victimisation to deny political enemies opportunity to revalidate their membership. I am also afraid that lack of finance might constitute another threat to the exercise because it requires huge fund to prosecute it.
“But, if you ask me, I think that it is more or less an exercise to show that our party is still active and functioning amidst the cold war over the controversial position of our national chairmanship position.
“It may after all be considered as a measure to placate the pressure from the North Central stakeholders, otherwise there are other more pressing issues to sort out in the party than the registration,” the chieftain argued.
