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Samuel Ogidan
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has officially launched a nationwide membership registration campaign, combining manual and digital systems to ensure both reach and credibility, in a decisive step toward the 2027 elections,
The event, held Thursday in Abuja, showcased the party’s determination to build a robust grassroots foundation.
The launch ceremony featured ADC National Chairman, Senator David Mark; Registration Committee Chairman, Alhaji Imam Ibrahim; Deputy Chairperson of the Committee and head of the digital platform, Aisha Yesufu; and National Secretary, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, who all addressed party leaders and stakeholders.
While Senator Mark boasted that ADC will form the 2027 government, Aregbesola warned against inflating membership numbers for show.
Mark said: “What we’re kicking off today is laying a solid foundation for our future results in the ADC. Once you get the cards and you start the exercise, register anybody who wants to be a member of ADC. I know what they do in other political parties. Somebody will buy the cards and keep them in his room. Our cards will not be kept in the rooms. Our cards will be given to our members.”
Mark, who emphasized that membership access will not be restricted by loyalty or favoritism, added that “for ADC, it is our card, for all ADC members. Whether you are our friend or you are our enemy, as long as you want to register with us and as long as you abide by our do’s and don’ts, we’ll give you our cards.”
The former Senate President directly linked the registration exercise to ADC’s electoral aspirations, adding, “I assure you that in 2027, ADC will form the government and this is the foundation for that we need. This is the foundation that we are laying today.”
Explaining the party’s registration framework, Alhaji Imam Ibrahim described why ADC avoided relying solely on a website or downloadable app.
“We thought of developing websites and we felt that at a point websites will crash. We also thought of developing an app and we felt that at a point many people don’t want to buy an app or download an app just for party registration. So we came up with what we call web app,” Ibrahim said.
He stressed that membership cards would be issued on demand to prevent hoarding.
“We are not going to give out cards to be kept there and they will not be used. We are putting on demand and on interim we have said that we are going to give each state 50,000 cards from today so that you go and register because we want a platform where the manual registration goes alongside the online registration,” he said, adding that both platforms were approved by the National Working Committee to ensure inclusivity.
“We are here to demonstrate these two platforms. One the online registration and one the manual registration which is very important because internet penetration is a little bit low. So we don’t want to disenfranchise anybody,” Ibrahim noted.
On the digital side, Aisha Yesufu highlighted the platform’s speed, accessibility, and security, designed around Nigeria’s demographic realities.
“In terms of the registration, it’s something that is seamless, it’s quick, within a minute or two it is done and it does have the passport picture on it and with the passport picture that you’re able to get your details. There is also a QR code on it. At any time you can always bring up the details of the person that is there,” she said.
Yesufu further explained that the platform uses voters’ identification numbers as the primary verification method.
“There were a lot of permutations, there were a lot of back and forth on the issue of being the primary means of ensuring that the people who are there, are verified… and we ended up settling with the voter’s identification number, something that is compulsory that everyone will have to put in with the assumption that everyone who has a PVC will be coming on,” she said.
In a keynote titled ‘A Register of Conviction, Not Convenience,’ National Secretary Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola warned against inflating membership numbers for show.
“Across our political landscape, parties have become addicted to the illusion of size. They inflate membership rolls with phantom names, duplicate entries, and invented identities, all to project a strength they do not possess. The registers are fat, but the structures are hollow. A party of ghosts cannot win elections. A party of ghosts cannot govern. A party of ghosts cannot hold its leaders to account. And a party of ghosts will, inevitably, be haunted by its own dishonesty,” he said.
Aregbesola urged party leaders to uphold membership integrity as a shared responsibility.
“The integrity of our register is the integrity of our party. If we cannot be honest about who we are, we have no moral authority to demand honesty from those who govern,” he said, calling for a disciplined, active base.
Officials confirmed that the nationwide registration will continue across all states through both online and manual channels, describing the exercise as the structural groundwork for building a credible, enduring political institution.
