The President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, has made it clear that the ongoing membership registration and revalidation exercise of the All Progressives Congress (APC) is aimed at capturing over 100 million Nigerians as members of the ruling party.
A statement today, February 6 by his media office in Abuja, quoted Senator Lawan, after he revalidated his membership of the party at Katuzu ward in Bade Local Government Area of Yobe North Senatorial District, said that the exercise was conceived to further democratize the party ahead of the 2023 general elections.
He said that the process would reposition the APC to dominate the country’s political space by winning more elective seats at the state and federal levels of government.
The Senate President said that the registration and revalidation exercise would also afford the youths, a critical role in governance, adding that it would provide Nigerians at the grassroots the opportunity of being major stakeholders in the nation’s decision making process.
According to him, the exercise became imperative in view of the need to weed out members of the APC who had decamped to other political parties and are still recorded in the party’s register and also to afford new or intending members the opportunity to get registered.
“The youths, who will be the majority of those that would register, will now have very critical role to play in the politics of APC and the democratic process of Nigeria.
“I also want to say that this exercise is essential because we have names of people who have decamped to other political parties and yet their names are in the register of APC.
“We cannot continue to carry the names of people who have shifted ground. And, essentially, democracy is about the people to take and make decisions on behalf of themselves.
“This is about taking the party to the grassroots. As Mr. President said in Daura, the party should be built from bottom up.”
