Ahead of the membership registration and revalidation exercise to commence across the federation, the All Progressives Congress (APC) has said the physical presence of its faithful at registration centres was mandatory.
The party Director of Organisation, Professor Ussiju Medaner, said this, on Thursday, while addressing participants at the train-the-trainers workshop for officials of the APC membership registration exercise. The workshop was supported by the National Democratic Institute (NDI).
He insisted that nothing must be done to strip the scheduled exercise of the needed credibility.
He said: “There is no room for membership registration and revalidation by proxy. That is why we have paid attention to cultural peculiarities and possible restrictions in some parts of the country by ensuring that the composition of the membership registration officials comprises all gender.”
Aside from physical presence, the manual for the registration procedure noted that an individual may insist on collecting registration form on behalf of another. “This must be totally rejected and not allowed. At the point of submission of each form, the passport photograph on the form must belong to the individual submitting it, otherwise, the form is to be collected and set aside.
“In case an individual made a photocopy of the form from another and present the same for submission, the form must not only be rejected but must be collected and set aside while the individual is directed to follow the accepted pathway. Such forms are invalid and must be destroyed and captured in the exercise report.
“Attempt by an individual to register more than once, when discovered, it should be stopped either at the registration point or at the point of final collation and documentation.
“To prevent multiple registrations, the use of ink on the thumb of each registered individuals and more efficiently, the design of the final documentation template identify repeated data entry.”
At the workshop, a training manual for the registration officials noted that the nationwide membership registration and register update of the party is an important and most unique element of growing the party in preparation for all future electoral outings.
“This is premised on the fact that the strength of the party is the bulk of its guaranteed support and membership base. The APC in a bid to enlarge its support base and simultaneously create ownership mentality that will translate to improved members participation is embarking on the membership registration which includes the energising of the registered members to be paying annual dues as contained in the party rules book.”