The Caretaker Committee Chairman of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Mr Stanley Okoro Wednesday said the party will register over 1.7 million members in the ongoing revalidation/registration exercise.
He disclosed this while speaking with journalists on the progress of the exercise in his office at the old government house,Abakaliki.
Okoro who doubles as the state Commissioner for Internal Security and Boarder Peace, noted that the desire of Ebonyians to identify with APC, made the party run out of the registration form.
He emphasized that government target is to register 10,000 members in each of the 171 wards in the state and as such needs more form to achieve this.
While he commended the national leadership of the party on the revalidation/registration idea, he further noted that Nigerians has realized that APC has done well in the country and has now relied on the party.
He said, “as to the registration/ revalidation exercise going on nationwide is the best that has happened to our great party the APC, I commend so highly our national chairman for this, this is the style other politicial parties should borrow it goes to show that what you have in the state here is the best, it also shows that there will be no manipulation again , if you are a member you are a member once the whole thing about you is captured.
“The revalidation/registration is going on very well here, the way people are trooping here in particular and in the Southeast shows that they have come to understand that APC is the best option to better the country. People have realized that if APC has managed the affairs of the country so well for the past six years, Nigerians has realized it is a party you can rely.
“I’m impressed with the turn out. I’m told people are coming out like this because of the way we have handle the affairs of the party for the few days we are in the helm of affairs here.
We were thinking that revalidation/registration would have been that the old APC members will come and show their card and they will be cued in the register since it is the same card number, but when Mr President did his revalidation and mistakenly registered a fresh with some changes and unique it made, and so others started doing the same everybody now wants to register a fresh this resulted to short of forms.
“The governor because of pressure from home went to Abuja to request for more forms, polling unit that is supposed to have 100 were more than 500. When the governor asked me to go to Abuja they said that it was the same person committee that handled it that the distribution of the first form that will still do the same. That there is a laydown procedure for it.
“We have 885 pulling units, we are targeting 10,000 per ward By our record we are targeting 10,000 per ward. We have 171 wards, we can get it by the grace of God, it is difficult to say how many that have registered but we have exusted the forms that came.Some pulling units has 500 waiting for 100 forms.”
