Members of the Caretaker Executive Committee of the All Progressives congress (APC) in Kwara have rejected the ongoing membership registration and revalidation exercise in the state, describing it as a sham.
The executive members, at a media briefing on Wednesday at the party’s secretariat in Ilorin, declared that the process in virtually all the registration centres was in breach of the guidelines of the APC on the exercise.
Chief Sunday Oyebiyi, the Vice Chairman of the party in the state, who read a prepared statement, said majority of the executive committee members were not carried along in the events leading to the exercise.
“We are in the dark till this very moment as per the process of the registration exercise. The same is true of our LGA Chairmen and their executives and the Ward Chairmen and their executives.
“Assuming without conceding that the Chairman, Bashir Bolarinwa, is suspended, are we all also suspended?
“Is the Organising Secretary, Samuel Ndazoko Isa, who by our parry’s constitution is supposed to be responsible for the exercise, also suspended?
“Is the majority members of the executive committee here present also suspended? So why did the Senator John Danboyi-led team sidestep all of us.
“If this is bad, what is happening on the field is worse. The guidelines are being severely raped across all the 1872 units without exception.
“Unfortunately, Senator John Danboyi and his team are not only looking away and but are also seemingly enabling these aberrations for reasons best known to them.
” In virtually all units of the state that we have monitored, both the Registration Forms and the Register of Members are never provided.
“Instead, party members who are revalidating and others who are prospective are being asked to write their personal details, including their NIN, on a rough sheet of paper,” Oyebiyi said.
Oyebiyi said the guidelines of the party were being brazenly breached adding that the exercise in Kwara was different from other states.
“Since registration materials have been said to be delivered to the state, we ask, where are the materials?
“Why are people being forced to write their details on N100 exercise books instead of on APC Membership Register as provided?
“Why are people not given the Temporary Membership Slip on registration as the guidelines stipulate?
“Why is the Kwara State APC membership exercise different from the rest of other states of the federation?
“We are ashamed that the legitimate expectations of several thousands of members are being dashed right under our noses and we are unable to do anything about it.
“We are alarmed that minority elements in the party are holding the majority of members to ransom.
“We are alarmed that a party that professes adherence to the rule of law is being dragged in the mud without any consequence,” he said.
He said the current registration and revalidation exercise ought to be considered beyond the crisis in the party.
” The issues are about due process, about the integrity of our party, about the sanctity of our constitution.
“The issues are about the hopes and aspirations of thousands of people who worked tirelessly to bring the APC in Kwara State thus far but are now being relegated and abused for no fault of theirs.
” It is really disappointing and unfortunate,” he added.
Oyebiyi, who called for a level playing field in the conduct of the registration exercise, said the guidelines as enumerated by the party’s national leadership must be adhered to.
“If the registration is about the people, and more people, and very more people, we demand a fair and credible conduct of the exercise, without fear or favour.
“We demand an immediate deployment of the registration materials to all the units without exception. We demand that they be brought out from where they are presently being hoarded.
“We demand a complete stop to the use of exercise books to record the personal details of the registrants.
“It is an aberration that must stop and the wanton exposure of the National Identity Number (NIN) of members without control poses a grave danger for them.
“We demand a more inclusive approach to the exercise.
” If we, the State Executive Committee members are in the dark, if the LGA Chairmen and their executives are in the dark, if the Ward Chairmen and their executives are in the dark, what then is the essence of the exercise?
“We urge our members to continue to be peaceful and law abiding. No matter the level of provocation, they should remain peaceful and report swiftly to relevant security agencies,” Oyebiyi added.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the statement was signed by 26 executive committee members of the party. (NAN)
