By Adeyemi Adeleye
The Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC) has urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to set minimum standards for party membership and regulate same to prevent fabrications capable of undermining nation’s democracy.
The Lagos State Public Affairs Officer of IPAC, Mr George Ashiru, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Lagos.
Ashiru was reacting to the statement reportedly made by the National Secretary of the ruling All Progressives Congress, Sen. Ajibola Basiru, that the party’s claim of having 45 million members in the build up to the 2023 general elections was a mere fabrication.
The APC ‘s scribe, who made the revelation at the opening session of the e-membership registration and ‘Train-the-Trainer’ workshop in Abuja on Wednesday, said that the party deployed the figure to fight causes unknown to the present leadership of the party.
He disclosed that the 2023 election where the APC presidential candidate, Sen. Bola Tinubu (now president), struggled to get less than 10 million votes exposed the fact that the claim was bogus.
While quoting the doctrine of the late Guinean nationalist, Amilcar Cabral, Basiru, emphasised that weaponisation of any political party register could only lead to corruption.
Reacting, Ashiru, the Lagos State Chairman of African Democratic Congress (ADC), who described such fabrication as unacceptable, said that INEC must do everything possible to guard against anything that could undermine democracy .
“So, it is not proper; it is not acceptable and no political party should get away with such falsehood.
“Going forward, INEC should state minimum requirements for membership. When a party states it has a particular number of members, what does it means?
“Ahead of 2027, INEC should set proper criteria so that people don’t come up with frivolous figures on membership to bamboozle voters and the nation.
“This is an opportunity to solve this once and for all, so that we really know the true level of our democracy and how many people are participating in party affairs,” Ashiru said.
He said that authentic party register remained one of the very important ingredients of democracy.
Stating that fabrication of party register and membership had been employed by big political parties, Ashiru noted that the former ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), had also claimed to be the biggest political party in Africa without any measurable evidence.
According to him ,the implication is that membership registers some political parties submit to INEC are fake.
He said the practice should not be allowed to continue in the interest of democracy.
“That will be unfair to other political parties if there is no proper way of regulation and confirming those who truly are members of the party.
“This is an opportunity for INEC to set minimum standards on membership of political parties.
“What are they required, is it NIN? Is it BVN? All these are important to entrench democracy “ he added.
He said parties’ membership registers would determine how they were expected to raise funds for elections and how many people would vote for them. (NAN)
