The All Progressives Congress (APC) has denied ever rigging elections at any level in the country.

The party, which hailed itself as the grassroots master mobiliser, added that the strategy it often deploys to reach out to the electorate “when it really matters, has made it the envy of the opposition.”

The Member representing Ekiti/Oke Ero/Irepodun/Osi federal constituency in the National Assembly, Hon. Raheem Tunji Olawuyi, said at the weekend in Omu Aran: “APC does not rig to win in elections; the party has only been good at mobilising voters for election victory.”

Speaking at the official launch of the APC membership e-registration exercise at Omu Aran Ward I, the federal lawmaker said, “We are good at mobilising people into our party; we don’t rig elections in APC. We don’t rig elections in APC. We’ve never thought about rigging. My people can testify. I’ve never told them about rigging of elections. I don’t even know how they do it. The only thing that I know is that before an election, I would have prepared myself and asked myself how many votes I’ll get in every polling booth. It’s about mobilisation. By the time your opponents wake up to rig an election, they’ve already lost. It’s very simple.”

Speaking on the e-registration exercise, Hon. Olawuyi said the programme was meant to revalidate members of the party, adding that the number of party faithful who vote during elections should tally with membership registration numbers.
“In the 2023 presidential election, which we won, the votes didn’t tally with about 42 million membership registration numbers of our party.

“Thus, as a practical and scientific politician, the president wants to know how many members are in the party. We want to know the original value of our strength, the total number of members in each ward, polling unit, and up to national level.

“Importantly, there won’t be double registration, as each membership is tied to NIN. The system would discover such discrepancies,” he said.

The legislator then called on APC members in the area to mobilise people into the party to ensure robust and competitive representation in politics and governance in the area and beyond.

Speaking on his popular name, Ajuloopin (seniority has no limitations), Hon. Olawuyi said he inherited the name from his father.

“If you come from a family with a good name, you would want to add your own value to the name. I’ve benefitted a lot from the name. A lot of people didn’t know me when I came in to participate in politics. But immediately they hear Ajuloopin, they’d say we don’t know you, but we know your father.’ Since then, I’ve been building on the values and integrity of the name,” he said.

Also speaking, the Speaker of the Irepodun Local Government Legislative Council, Omu Aran, Rt. Hon. Aliyu Murtala Omoboye, encouraged party members to come out en masse and register in this APC e-registration exercise.

“That is what will translate into victory come the 2027 general election for the APC. We have a great and bright chance in the coming general elections. We’ve been on this before now. When we mobilise for our party, we mobilise extensively. Definitely, we’re going to win the election come the 2027 general elections,” he said.