Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, on Thursday said that President Muhammadu Buhari has directed all governors under the All Progressives Congress (APC) to ensure the success of the ongoing registration and revalidation exercise of the party across the country.
The governor disclosed this when he received members of the Registration and Revalidation Monitoring Committee in the Southwest, led by Sen. Lawan Shuaib, in his office in Ado Ekiti.
He said the President also directed that the APC governors should monitor and provide support for states not governed by the APC.
Newsmen recalled that Fayemi and his wife, Bisi, had on the first day of the exercise participated in exercise in their unit 09, ward 11 Isan Ekiti in Oye Local Government Area of the State
He said the governors had been carrying out the President’s directive, describing the exercise in Ekiti as inclusive and open to all, irrespective of political view.
Fayemi, the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum, stressed that APC governors are to ensure the success of the exercise across the federation, urging those with complaints to raise it with the Chairman or members of the revalidation and registration committee in their respective states.
“As governors, we are very keen to see the exercise succeed because Mr. President had directed us that we must ensure that things go well, especially in states where we have governors in charge from APC and even in states where we do not have governors in charge we have been given the responsibility to also monitor and support our members in those states,” he said.
He commended members of the two committees for dedicating their time and energy towards ensuring the success of the exercise and described the process as seamless “with wide acceptance from members of the party”.
“I registered on the first day in my home town, Isan, and everything went seamlessly, I have been seeing on social media some of our leaders showing their registration slips, meaning that the registers were very well positioned across the various units in the state.
“We will like to say that here nobody is excluded, we have encouraged everybody and that is also the message we have passed on to the chair of the committee that here it is about inclusion and not exclusion.
“Anybody that comes that wants to revalidate, no debate, revalidate even those who are not members of our party if they say they want to join us they are welcome.
“No doubt, people may have their own political view about taking people that are particularly controversial. It is an inclusive process here, we want everyone regardless of which tendency they belong in the party in Ekiti or nationally to come out register and be part of the exercise”, Fayemi said.
Earlier, the Chairman of the Southwest Monitoring committee, Senator Lawan Shuaib, said the process was an attempt by the leadership of the party to return the party to the people at the grassroots.
Senator Shuaib expressed satisfaction with the turnout of party members and new ones for the exercise, adding that some polling units had exhausted their registration sheets.
He said the exercise would enable the party to have a viable and reliable register across all the wards in the country.
