The Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, on Friday, described the ongoing revalidation/registration of the All Progressives Congress as a period of “evangelism” to clean up the party.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Fashola, who revalidated his APC membership in Lagos on Friday, said the exercise would address the frequent appointment of dead people by the regime of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd).
Since assuming office in 2015, Buhari has made six posthumous appointments, most of whom were in 2017, and later in 2020.
The minister was quoted as saying, “You will see, in the past, we have had some unfortunate incidents where, perhaps, some people were appointed, only for us to find out that they are deceased. So, this is also an opportunity to clean up because there are opportunities also as a member of a party that forms a government.
“And we need to know who is where; we also need to know what party members do. So, if I am a party member and want to host an event, I can look in my party’s database and see who does event planning, who does catering, and we share prosperity.”
Fashola also noted that, in addition to helping to clean up the APC’s records, the revalidation exercise was an opportunity for as many who were willing, especially the youths, to identify with the progressive ideals of the APC.
He said, “We are a large political family and it is always important to know how many we are, and also to increase the number. So, this registration exercise first brings about all family members in all wards and polling stations of the country together.
“It means coming back together, but more importantly, it is also a period for evangelism, expansion of the party database.”
