The All Progressives Congress, APC’s claim that it was now 41 million-member strong has been described as an attempt to mislead voters. 

Chief Rahman Owokoniran, the General Secretary of Peoples Democratic Party,  PDP, South-West Zone, made the point, adding that such claims had become synonymous with APC”s plots to execute electoral fraud.

President Muhammadu Buhari had claimed in an interview that APC meme era were now 41 million.

APC, at its national convention on Saturday, had claimed that it recorded over 40 million members, with Governor Mala Buni of Yobe State claiming the number had made APC the biggest party in Nigeria. 

Buni, who was also Chairman, APC Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee, CECPC, said the increase (from 11 million) was due to the registration/revalidation conducted by the outgone leadership. 

Lies, says PDP

However, reacting in a statement by Mabel Oboh, his Publicity Consultant, Owokoniran said the membership claim was deceitful, marking APC’s unrepentant tendency to take voters for granted. 

According to the PDP scribe, “The bogus claim by the APC at their just-concluded convention that the party had registered 41 million members must be disregarded.

“It is a deliberate attempt to mislead voters. This has become their stock in trade

“In Anambra state, they claimed to have registered 500,000 voters only to score 43,000 votes at the governorship poll.

“Same in Lagos State in 2015; they claimed to have registered over 5,000,000 members, whereas the total number of votes recorded at general election polls for each election was about one million votes.

“This is a dubious attempt to mislead Nigerians.

“Is it the hungry people who find it difficult to eat more than once daily that registered? Or the millions of people terrified round the clock each day?

“I don’t believe that those entrepreneurs who are uncertain about their market prospects can register for APC. Neither can industrial workers who continue to lose their jobs in droves register for APC.

“So it begs the question, who are these ghosts that registered for APC? We challenge the APC to publish its registered members.”

He called on Nigerians vote always but “please protect your votes.

“We need to vote out APC for a capable, purposeful and result-oriented party,” Owokoniran added.

Vanguard News