‘Membership registration: Success, confirmation Nigerians still have trust,

From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja

All Progressives Congress (APC) Caretaker and Extra-ordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) has said the successes recorded in its ongoing membership registration and revalidation exercise is a confirmation Nigerians still have trust and faith in the party.

National Secretary of the committee, James Akpanudoedehe, stated this, yesterday, in Abuja while inaugurating the party’s registration appeals’ committee.

He said the committee was critical to the party’s ongoing nationwide membership registration and revalidation exercise which, he said, had been a success.

Akpanudoedehe added that the exercise showed Nigerians still had trust and faith in APC.

“It is true COVID-19 and its attendant consequences have hit us hard, so also the big economies of the world. The APC administration has, however, responded remarkably well, on all fronts,” he said.

This, he said, the party did by making available various shades of stimulus packages to vulnerable families and small and medium enterprises and companies manufacturing vital goods. Akpanudoedehe said the work was still ongoing.

He said as an organisation, based on rules and procedure, avenues and channels must be provided for party members that were dissatisfied with conducts of its officials or otherwise to ventilate their grievances.

This, he said, necessitated the inauguration of the registration appeals’ committee.

“This party is for all Nigerians, therefore we must show not only by words, but by actions that there is no attempt to exclude, oppress, sideline or freeze out anybody in the party.

“This is fundamental, not only to the CECPC, but to our National Chairman, Governor Mai Mala Buni, and the party at large.

“Therefore, your actions in this regard will help engender cohesion, build trust and confidence in this all-important exercise.

“This exercise is the foundation for a lot of activities; the delegates, congresses, nominations and, even the national convention, so we must get it right,” he said.

He said party members must own the processes, saying the registration exercise must end on a high note.

Akpanudoedehe said members of the committee were carefully selected based on their proven records.

He further added that the committee would be broken into sub-committees to sit across the country’s six geo-political zones.

He said issues of bias within the committee and conflicts of interests must be identified and handled with wisdom.

Meanwhile, APC said Nigeria remained Africa’s biggest economy and top investment destination.

The secretary stated this in a statement in Abuja, yesterday.

Akpanudoedehe was reacting to an insinuation that Twitter’s decision to cite its African operations in Ghana was caused by bad governance in Nigeria.

He said Nigeria’s current status as Africa’s largest economy was attained under President Muhammadu Buhari-led APC administration.

“And our industrious citizens are the ultimate beneficiaries.”

Akpanudoedehe said decisions of private concerns, particularly businesses, on where to cite operations, were their exclusive preserve and should not be an issue.

“However, for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that mocks the country and its citizens over what it celebrates as missed business prospects, does not mean well and should definitely not be considered as a governance option. It is exhausting and depressing highlighting PDP’s ignominious past,” he said.

He wondered how come what the PDP termed the present misrule did not stop multinational technology companies such as Facebook and Google from opening offices in Nigeria.