By Ayo Ayodele
The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Professor Nentawe Yilwatda, has issued a stern warning to coordinators of the party’s ongoing nationwide electronic membership registration, directing them to ensure that every party member is registered or risk being removed from their positions.
Professor Yilwatda gave the directive during a meeting with State Registration Coordinators at the APC National Secretariat in Abuja. He stressed that the role of coordinators, who are largely State Organising Secretaries of the party, is not ceremonial but central to strengthening the party’s structure and credibility.
The electronic registration exercise, which covers the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory, is scheduled to end on January 30, 2026.
“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,” Yilwatda said.
He described the electronic registration initiative as a strategic political reform rather than a mere technical upgrade, noting that it would enhance the party’s credibility, mobilisation capacity, internal discipline and electoral strength.
The APC chairman emphasised that strong party structures at the state, local government and ward levels are critical to electoral success, adding that elections are not won at the national secretariat but at the grassroots.
“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 told the coordinators.
Yilwatda also warned against discrepancies between claimed membership figures and actual votes recorded during elections, describing such gaps as unacceptable going forward. He disclosed that the National Executive Committee (NEC) had put in place a conducive environment to ensure the success of the registration exercise and other party programmes.
He further cautioned that any State Executive Committee member who fails to register before the January 30 deadline would be removed from office, stressing that NEC has the constitutional authority to enforce compliance.
The APC chairman urged State Party Chairmen to cooperate fully with the coordinators, insisting that the registration exercise is non-negotiable and must be driven from the state level down to the wards.
He also condemned any attempt to exclude or block party members from the process, warning that no individual, including governors, has the power to stop any APC member from being registered.
“No one must be disenfranchised,” he said.
To ensure efficiency, Yilwatda directed coordinators to use Android phones where tablets are unavailable, cautioning states against delaying the exercise due to lack of devices. He also advised against making the process unnecessarily expensive, noting that in his home state, registration officials were recruited from within wards to reduce logistics costs.
Providing an update on progress, the APC chairman revealed that Delta State is currently leading the registration exercise, followed by Lagos, Kebbi, Adamawa and Plateau States. He said the party leadership would review progress again within five days.
Yilwatda linked the electronic registration drive to the broader reform agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, stressing the need for accurate and reliable data to support effective decision-making within the party.
“This registration must succeed. We cannot make decisions on faulty premises,” he said.
According to him, the exercise, described as the first of its kind by any political party in Nigeria, will produce a credible, verifiable and real-time membership database, strengthen internal democracy, improve campaign planning and eliminate fraud.
In their response, the State Registration Coordinators commended Yilwatda’s leadership and pledged their full commitment to completing the exercise before the deadline, assuring that party structures across all levels would be revitalised within the next two weeks.
The statement was signed by Abimbola Tooki, Special Adviser to the National Chairman on Media and Communications Strategy, on January 12, 2026.