Babatunde Fashola, minister of works and housing, says the ongoing revalidation exercise of the All Progressives Congress (APC) will help “clean up” the party.
Fashola, who revalidated his APC membership in Lagos on Friday, said the exercise will address the frequent appointment of dead people by the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.
Buhari has an unmatched record of posthumous appointments since he took office in 2015. He has, so far, appointed six dead persons into government positions, most of whom were in 2017, and later in 2020.
NAN quoted Fashola, a former governor of Lagos, as saying in addition to helping to clean up the APC’s records, the revalidation exercise is also a “period for evangelism” for intending party members.
“We are a large political family and it is always important to know how many we are, and also to increase the number. So, this registration exercise first brings about all family members in all wards and polling stations of the country together,” the minister said.
“So, it means coming back together, but more importantly, it is also a period for evangelism, expansion of the party database.
“You will see, in the past, we have had some unfortunate incidents where perhaps some people were appointed, only for us to find out that they are deceased. So, this is also an opportunity to clean up because there are opportunities also as a member of a party that forms a government.
“And we need to know who is where; we also need to know what party members do. So, if I am a party member and want to host an event, I can look in my party’s database and see who does event planning, who does catering, and we share prosperity.”