By Ado Yahaya Dambatta
In the modern political landscape, data is power. The All Progressives Congress (APC) has taken a visionary step by launching an e-registration platform to digitize its membership. However, beneath the sleek interface of this innovation lies a technical “bottleneck” that threatens to undermine the party’s greatest asset: its massive grassroots following across the entire federation.
The current software architecture demands a “Double-Lock” verification requiring both a National Identification Number (NIN) and a mandatory Telephone Number validation.
While this looks like progress on paper, in practice, it is creating a digital divide that could lead to a massive registration deficit nationwide.
The National OTP Barrier
From the bustling streets of Lagos to the remote villages of Kano, and from the creeks of the Delta to the hills of the Plateau, mobile network stability remains inconsistent. When the registration portal demands a telephone-based One-Time Password (OTP) to proceed, it assumes every supporter has a private, linked, and active SIM card with a perfect signal at that exact moment.
Read Also:
Ganduje Explains How Kano’s Shift Reinforces Northern Support for Tinubu
The reality? Millions of our loyalists in rural and suburban areas use shared family phones, live in “blind spots” for network coverage, or face chronic delays in SMS delivery. Every time a supporter tries to register and the “code” fails to arrive, the party doesn’t just lose a data entry, it loses a human connection. A frustrated supporter today is an indifferent voter tomorrow.
The Redundancy of “Double-Gate” Verification
Nigeria has already spent years and billions of Naira establishing the NIN as the “Gold Standard” of identity. The NIN database is robust, biometric, and legally verified. By making a telephone number a mandatory secondary validator, the party is essentially asking for a second identity check after the primary one has already been satisfied.
This redundancy serves no strategic purpose. Instead, it acts as a “Digital Wall” that shuts out the rural farmer, the local artisan, and the elderly supporter who may have a NIN but lacks a personalized, tech-ready mobile setup.
Numbers: The Universal Currency of Politics
Politics is a game of numbers. Whether in the North, South, East, or West, our strength is our sheer population. If we allow a cumbersome registration process to stifle our numbers, we are effectively disarming ourselves before the battle even begins. We cannot afford a situation where our official membership database represents only a fraction of our actual strength because of a technical hurdle.
A Call for Strategic Simplification
To protect the integrity of the exercise and ensure total national inclusivity, I propose an immediate “User-Experience (UX)” reform:
NIN-Centric Registration: Let the NIN be the sole mandatory key. If a supporter provides a valid NIN, the system should grant membership instantly.
Optional Communication Fields: Telephone numbers should be collected for communication and mobilization, not as a mandatory “gatekeeper” that can block a registration.
National Accessibility: The party must remember that the software should serve the people, not the other way around.
Conclusion
Innovation must be a bridge, not a barrier. As the APC moves to modernize, we must ensure that our digital doors are open as wide as our physical ones. By removing the mandatory telephone validation, the party can ease the process, respect the diverse realities of the Nigerian landscape, and ensure that every single supporter from every corner of the country is counted.
In the race for 2027 and beyond, let us not be defeated by a missing SMS.
Ado Yahaya Dambatta writes from Kano State.