Senator Uche Ekwunife, Director General of the South East Governorship Forum and the All Progressives Congress (APC) deputy governorship candidate in the 2025 Anambra election, yesterday affirmed that “Nigeria is in safe hands” under President Bola Tinubu’s leadership, asserting that his administration has started to deliver positive results nationally.
Speaking at the APC stakeholders’ meeting in Awka on Saturday, a gathering convened to appraise progress in the party’s electronic membership registration drive and map out next steps, Ekwunife emphasised that Tinubu remains the “most formidable candidate for 2027.”
“Nigeria is in safe hands with President Bola Tinubu. The President remains the most formidable candidate for 2027,” she declared. “He is doing well and his economic policies and agenda have started yielding positive results. Nigerians should support him.”
Ekwunife, a former two-term senator, said her experience in the Seventh and Eighth Senate terms, during which she worked alongside Remi Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima, gave her unique insight into the calibre of the nation’s leadership. “I can tell you that they are good people. Our party is doing well, the government is doing well, let us support the President,” she said.
Ekwunife explained that the ongoing electronic membership registration, currently being driven in collaboration with ward chairmen, described as “custodians of the party at the grassroots”, is central to bolstering the APC’s organisational strength ahead of the 2027 general elections.
She underscored that the exercise is designed not only to compile accurate membership data but also to empower loyal and committed party members. “Winning elections is not just about money,” she said. “It is about institutional support; money is the last thing.”
The party has set an ambitious target to register more than 336,000 new members across the state’s 336 wards, aiming for “at least 1,000 new members per ward.” “If we achieve this across all electoral wards, we will register over 336,000 new members,” Ekwunife said, outlining a strategy to strengthen the APC ahead of the presidential, national assembly, and state elections.
While acknowledging that the party did not receive significant federal support during the last governorship election in Anambra, Ekwunife said the APC nonetheless “recorded meaningful progress.” She warned party officials that a lack of seriousness in the current e-registration effort could isolate them. “Any party chairman who fails to demonstrate seriousness in the e-registration process risks isolating himself,” she said.
Ekwunife also called on party members to actively promote the APC within their communities and urged Nigerians to pray for the country’s leadership. “We need to pray for our leaders to get it right where they are not getting it right,” she said, insisting that the setbacks experienced in prior polls would not be repeated.
In his remarks, the state Chairman of the APC, Chief Basil Ejidike, echoed the emphasis on membership growth. Describing politics as “a game of numbers,” he stressed that the party must expand its base to be competitive nationally. “In a few months, we will be approaching another election cycle, and without the right numbers, we will not be reckoned with nationally,” he said.
