Register Every APC Member or Be Removed, Yilwatda Warns State Coordinators

Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja

The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda, has directed all coordinators of the ongoing nationwide electronic membership registration across the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to ensure that no member of the party is left unregistered.

Yilwatda, in a statement issued Monday by his Special Adviser on Media and Communications Strategy, Abimbola Tooki, warned that any coordinator who fails in this responsibility will be replaced.

The chairman gave the directive when he met with all the state registration coordinators at the National Secretariat of the APC in Abuja.

All the state organising secretaries of the party are the coordinators of the exercise except where any of them was not trained for the exercise.

The ongoing registration is scheduled to end on January 30, 2026.

Yilwatda noted: “The position of coordinator is not ceremonial but a responsibility to strengthen the party. If any coordinator does not get all members registered in his or her state, we will drop you and appoint another person. The position you occupy is an opportunity to make the party better.”

He reminded the coordinators that they are the foot soldiers of the party, stressing that when party structures at the state level are strong and functional, the party itself becomes strong.

The national chairman also urged the state party chairmen to cooperate fully with the coordinators to ensure a seamless and successful exercise.

“Nobody contests elections at the National Secretariat. Elections are won or lost at the state, senatorial, constituency, local government and ward levels. The performance of the party rests squarely on you,” he stated.

The chairman warned against a situation where the party claims millions of members in a state but records very low votes during elections, describing such discrepancies as unacceptable going forward.

Yilwatda noted that the National Executive Committee (NEC) has created a conducive environment to ensure the success of all party programmes and insisted that party structures at all levels must begin to reflect real membership strength.

He further warned that any State Executive Committee member, who fails to register before January 30, 2026, would be removed from office, stressing that the NEC, the second highest organ of the party after the convention, has the constitutional authority to enforce compliance.

“It is not negotiable. This warning must be sounded from the state level down to the ward level,” he said.

The chairman condemned sharp practices aimed at blocking or excluding party members from the registration process.

“No chairman, no coordinator, and not even a governor has the power to stop any party member from being registered. No one must be disenfranchised,” he warned.

To ensure speed and efficiency, the chairman directed coordinators to use Android phones where tablets are unavailable, stressing that no state should delay the exercise waiting for devices.

He urged coordinators to avoid making the exercise unnecessarily expensive for state governments and disclosed that in his own state, registration officials were recruited from within their wards to ease logistics.

Giving an update on progress, Yilwatda revealed that Delta State is currently leading, followed by Lagos, Kebbi, Adamawa and Plateau States, and encouraged other states to emulate their pace and commitment.

He announced that he would review the progress of the exercise in five days.

The APC chairman also linked the electronic registration to President Bola Tinubu’s ongoing reforms, stressing that the party must reflect the same spirit of modernization and accountability.

“We need accurate data to support the president. We must be different from all other parties. We cannot make decisions on faulty premises. This registration must succeed,” he declared.

He explained that the electronic registration, the first of its kind by any political party in Nigeria, will give APC a credible, verifiable and real-time membership database, enhance internal democracy, improve campaign planning, eliminate fraud, and ensure that party resources are deployed based on real and reliable data.