BY TIMOTHY AGBOR, OSOGBO
FORMER Governor of Osun State, and pioneer Interim National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Adebisi Akande, has described the Buni-led National Caretaker Committee of the party as an abnormality.
Despite this position, he advised the committee to resist all temptations of what he termed “sit-tight syndromes”, noting also that the ongoing APC membership registration and revalidation exercise was an “indefensible aberration.”
Akande spoke after revalidating his membership of the APC in his home town, Ila-Orangun, on Wednesday.
He said, “In normal circumstances, a Caretaker Executive Committee for a political party is an abnormality. If not carefully controlled and expeditiously managed, most aberrant authorities end up in contempt and disgrace.
“For this reason, I want to urge the present APC Caretaker Executive Committee to resist all temptations of sit-tight syndromes that usually characterised most handpicked authorities in most underdeveloped countries of the world.”
The APC chieftain argued, “No population census is repeated within less than a decade and voters are not re-registered at every election. Within this context, I see the present APC membership registration, within less than a decade after the original register, as an indefensible aberration, leading to certain ugly perceptions.
“The first major perception is that APC, already having a well computerised register for an average of 100 leaders of similar ideological orientation per each of the more than 120000 polling units across Nigeria, might be lacking comprehension and matrix of modern day technology.
“The second major perception is that APC leadership might be wasteful and unappreciative of the proper use of money in a kind of scanty economy in which Nigeria now finds itself.
“These seeming ugly perceptions put into abeyance the applause of the two national election successes that the original APC register enjoyed since its completion on 15th February, 2014 and the over One Billion Naira of 2014’s value that the original register cost when APC had no money of its own.”
Nonetheless, Akande expressed profound gratitude to the leadership of the party for the honour of being the second person to register after President Muhammadu Buhari.
While urging the party leadership to make huge success of the registration exercise, which he said would determine the success of the party in future elections, the former governor further charged the Buni-led Caretaker Committee to resist all temptations of sit-tight syndromes.
Meanwhile, Governor Gboyega Oyetola has canvassed mass participation in the membership registration and revalidation exercise.
He called on party members and loyalists across the nation, particularly in the South-West, to ensure full participation in the registration exercise, which he described as the only sacrosanct way of being bonafide card-carrying members of the ruling party.
Addressing the people at the two registration points in Ila and Iragbiji, Oyetola said the registration exercise became necessary in order to afford the leadership of the party the opportunity to update the membership register of the party by accommodating new members while also enabling existing members to revalidate their membership.
He said the exercise would further help to expand the membership base of the party which, according to him, was in tandem with the reform that the National Caretaker and Extra-ordinary/Convention Planning Committee put in place.
Oyetola, who is a member of the APC National Caretaker and Extra-ordinary/Convention Planning Committee, reaffirmed government’s commitment to providing adequate security before, during and after the registration exercise.
He said, “As you are all aware, this is a nationwide exercise holding simultaneously in no fewer than 119,973 polling units and 57,000 voting points across the country, in line with the directive by the national leadership of our party.
“This exercise affords us the opportunity to update the membership register of the party by accommodating new members, while also enabling existing members to revalidate their membership.
“As a member, I am proud to say that APC, which started as an opposition party upon its establishment in 2013, is today not only the country’s ruling party, but also the largest party in the West Africa sub-region. It is no doubt a party to belong.”
“This exercise was borne out of the identified need to expand the membership base of the party and in tandem with a reform that CECPC under the able leadership of Governor Mai Mala Buni of Yobe State, desired for the party,” he explained.
