The All Progressives Congress (APC) has come under fire from the Ogun State chapter of the Labour Party (LP), which accused the ruling party of launching its electronic membership registration exercise as a deliberate scheme to manipulate voter figures and rig the 2027 general elections.
In a strongly worded statement released on Wednesday, January 14, 2026,the Ogun LP Chairman, Chief Oluwabukola Soyoye described the APC’s ongoing e-registration drive — which began nationwide earlier this month and was flagged off in Ogun State on January 13, 2026 — as a “fraudulent digital operation” rather than a legitimate effort to build party structures.
Soyoye alleged that the initiative is specifically designed to digitally inflate the APC’s membership numbers in Ogun State, creating a misleading impression of widespread popularity for Governor Dapo Abiodun’s administration, which he claimed has faced significant public rejection due to perceived underperformance.
“What we are witnessing is not a genuine political exercise but a fraudulent digital operation designed to manufacture legitimacy for a government that has lost the confidence of the people,” Soyoye stated.
He further argued that the APC has resorted to electronic registration because it can no longer mobilize citizens openly for physical registration, as residents have deliberately shunned the ruling party.
“The people of Ogun are now wiser. They have deliberately refused to participate in any open, physical APC registration because they know the ruling party has failed them,” he added.
The Labour Party chairman called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), security agencies, civil society organizations, and other stakeholders to closely monitor political activities in the state, warning of what he described as an emerging pattern of “digital electoral manipulation” ahead of the 2027 polls.
The APC, however, has consistently defended the e-registration program as a transparent, modern reform aimed at building a credible, verifiable national membership database.
Party leaders, including national officials and state governors, have emphasized that the digital platform — requiring details such as National Identification Numbers (NIN), voter cards, and phone contacts — eliminates duplication, impersonation, and inflated figures from past manual systems.
Launched nationally around January 5, 2026, and set to conclude by January 30, 2026, the exercise has reportedly attracted over two million registrations in its first week, with the APC targeting between eight and nine million verified members nationwide.
In Ogun State, the flag-off ceremony featured high-profile registrations of leaders including the deputy governor, the speaker of the state House of Assembly, and other top officials.
Governor Abiodun’s administration has framed the initiative as a step toward ending “fake or inflated membership figures” and strengthening internal democracy.
The allegation from the Ogun LP echoes broader opposition concerns raised by parties such as the Labour Party and the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) at the national level, who have questioned the rapid membership claims and suggested they could form part of early preparations to influence electoral outcomes in 2027.
As political temperatures rise with over a year to go before the general elections, the controversy highlights deepening distrust between the ruling party and its opponents, particularly in states like Ogun where gubernatorial performance remains a flashpoint.
Neither the national APC leadership nor Ogun State APC officials had issued a direct public response to Soyoye’s specific accusations at the time of this report.
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Observers expect the debate over the e-registration process to intensify as more states roll out the exercise and opposition groups intensify scrutiny.
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