APC will observe Covid protocols in membership drive, party replies Rep

Tunde Opalana, Abuja

All Progressives Congress (APC) has said that it will observe all COVID -19 protocols and regulations during the ongoing membership registration and revalidation nationwide.

As the ruling party, the APC said it will fully comply with regulations and directives of the Presidential Task Force on COVID -19 and not jeopardize efforts of the President Muhammadu Buhari – led APC Federal Government at curtailing the spread of the pandemic.

The party’s position is in response to an open letter by an APC member of the House of Representatives representing Ikeja Federal Constituency of Lagos state, Rep. James Faleke, asking the party to postpone its scheduled fresh registration and revalidation exercise.

Rep. Faleke had in an open letter on Monday addressed to the Chairman of the party’s Caretaker/Extra-Ordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC), Yobe State Governor, Mai Mala Buni, premised his advice to the party on concerns about the prevailing COVID-19 pandemic situation in Nigeria.

The lawmaker cautioned the ruling party to be conscious of negative reactions by Nigerians, particularly members of the opposition that the nationwide registration could increase the number of people susceptible to COVID -19 infection.

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Responding, Secretary of the Caretaker/Extra-Ordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC), Sen. John James Akpanudoedehe, appreciated the lawmaker as a loyal member for his concern, but assured that the party will do everything possible to observe all the proposals as stated by the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19.

Akpanudouede said: “On behalf of the Chairman of the CECPC, Mai Mala Buni, the Executive Governor of Yobe State, we thank Rep. James Faleke for his concerns. We appreciate all the issues raised in his open letter, but as a committee we are guided by the directive of NEC on the conduct of the registration exercise and we wish to state that the exercise will continue as scheduled.

“In doing this, we shall ensure full compliance of the PTF protocols on COVID-19 in the cause of this exercise. Our registration officers will be adequately trained to observe the protocols by the PTF.

“The truth is that this exercise is unit based. There will be no need for crowd. Recently, INEC conducted election and the COVID-19 protocol was adhered to. The registration is not a day exercise.

It is a continuous one and we assure our members of their safety and protection. We are committed to carrying out this exercise as scheduled in view of the life- time of the caretaker committee.”

Giving reasons for his concern, Rep. Faleke in the letter to Buni said “Mr. Chairman, let me give you a grim statistics of COVID-19 in January 2021. Between January 1 and January 22, a total of 196 deaths were recorded from COVID-19. This amounted to 13.2 per cent of the total of 1,485 fatalities recorded throughout the country.

“This also means that an average of nine people died daily of COVID-19 between January 1 and 22. Between January 19 and 22, a total of 6,134 people tested positive for COVID-19 and the number of infections continue to grow higher and higher, prompting the Federal Government to even consider another lockdown.

“Already, places of worship are operating in half capacity, while in some states most civil servants are working from home. All these measures were put in place to control the spread of the deadly virus. My question is: Do we need to aggravate the situation by going ahead with our registration and revalidation exercise?

“The exercise is meant to register millions of our members across the federation and I foresee two scenarios; it’s either we have our members coming out in multitude to register or most deciding not to come out at all for fear of being infected. The two options are not good enough for us as a party.

“If our members come out to register in high numbers, then the possibility of increase in the number of COVID-19 cases might be high and ultimately lead to increase in the number of fatalities.

If our members refuse to come out for fear of being infected, then we will have fewer members to be registered for our party. Either way, God forbid, we lose.

“We are the ruling party and we must be in the forefront of promoting the welfare of our people, pushing this exercise forward will rather add to our popularity rather than reducing it. We can afford to do this because we presently don’t have any particular election to deal with.”