By Francis Sardauna
The Jigawa State Governor, Alhaji Muhammad Abubakar, on Tuesday, disagreed with critics of the ongoing membership registration and revalidation exercise embarked upon by the Mai Mala Buni-led Caretaker and Extra-Ordinary National Convention Planning Committee of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Abubakar, who threw his weight behind the exercise in an interview with journalists in Katsina, said the exercise is the necessary step to clean up the party’s register and provide a level playing field for its members across the country.
The governor, who was in Katsina for the the ground-breaking ceremony of the Kano-Dutse-Jibia (Katsina State)-Maradi 284 Km rail project connecting Kano to Maradi in Niger Republic, added that the policy will brighten the political power base of the party ahead of the 2023 general election.
THISDAY reports that the pioneer Interim National Chairman of the APC, Chief Bisi Akande, and the National Leader of the party, Bola Tinubu, at different fora criticised the exercise, describing it as unnecessary and needless.
But Governor Abubakar, during the interview, insisted that the ongoing exercise “is not needless” rather a worthy programme that will enable the party to ascertain its genuine members and register those willing to become members.
He maintained that the fresh party registration will bring into the net of the party “most supporters of our party who have been hanging out there”.
He said: “I believed the APC registration and revalidation is not a needless exercise. You can’t call it needless. Checking the integrity of your system would not be a wasteful effort.
“We want to check the integrity of what we have to make sure those that registered as APC members are still with us and those that had left. So, the new ones that came in should be registered. It is a needful exercise.”
