APC Fixes March Convention, Extends E-Registration as Membership Tops 7 Million
By Kabir Akintayo
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has fixed its National Convention for March 27–28, 2026, while extending its nationwide electronic membership registration exercise to February 8, following an unprecedented surge that has pushed its digital membership beyond seven million.
The decision was taken at the 183rd meeting of the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) held in Abuja and disclosed to journalists by the APC National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka.
Morka said the extension of the e-registration deadline, from January 31 to February 8, was necessitated by intense pressure from party stakeholders and the overwhelming enthusiasm shown by members across the country.
“With respect to the e-registration, there’s no complicated explanation. We simply want more members to register,” Morka said. “We are responding to the clamour by enthusiastic members who are eager to be captured in the system. As of today, we have crossed the seven million mark, and by the grace of God, by the time we close on February 8, we should be heading towards 12.5 million.”
He explained that the exercise, which requires the use of National Identification Number (NIN) and Voter Identification Number (VIN), is part of the APC’s broader digital reform agenda aimed at ensuring data integrity, legal compliance, internal democracy and financial inclusion.
According to him, the APC has now emerged as the first major political party in Nigeria to fully digitise its membership register, a move he described as a significant step toward modernising party administration.
On the party’s internal processes, Morka announced that ward congresses would hold on Wednesday, February 18, 2026, ahead of the National Convention in March. However, he disclosed that congresses would not be conducted in Rivers, Edo, Ekiti states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) due to “peculiar circumstances.”
“With respect to Rivers State, off-cycle congresses were conducted last year, and the tenure of the executives elected there is still subsisting. We must allow it to run its full course before scheduling fresh congresses,” he said.
He added that full details of the adjusted congress timetable, as well as the composition of the National Convention Coordinating Committee approved by the NWC, would be formally published on Monday.
Also speaking, the APC National Secretary, Senator Ajibola Basiru, described the e-registration exercise as “tremendously successful,” attributing the extension to formal requests from state chapters and the Progressive Governors Forum (PGF).
“We have received requests from many states that there are still a lot of members eager to register,” Basiru said. “Based on those requests, particularly from the body of governors at our recent meeting, the National Working Committee decided to extend the exercise.”
Basiru further noted that the scale of the APC’s digital membership now rivals the population of over 100 countries globally, stressing that the mandatory use of NIN and VIN aligns the party with national data protection laws and strengthens civic participation.
He also disclosed that applications for the forthcoming congresses would, for the first time, be processed online, describing the move as another milestone in the party’s ongoing digital transformation.
“We are innovating rapidly. Applications for the upcoming congresses will be available online. This is the first of its kind, and it sets us apart,” he said.