A Member representing Ekiti/Oke Ero/Irepodun/Osi federal constituency in the House of Representatives, Hon. Raheem Tunji Olawuyi, has debunked claims in some quarters of rigging to win in elections by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), saying that the ruling 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 in the Irepodun local government area of Kwara State, the 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 election, I would have prepared myself and ask myself how many votes I’ll get in every polling booth. It’s about mobilisation.
“By the time your opponents wake up to rig in election, they’ve lost already. It’s very simple.”
Speaking on the e-registration exercise, Hon. Olawuyi said the programme was meant to revalidate members of the party, saying that number of party faithful that vote during election should tally with membership registration number.
“In the 2023 presidential election, which we won, the votes didn’t tally with about 42 million membership registration number 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 original value of our strength, total number of members in each ward, polling units 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 lawmaker then called on APC members in the area to mobilise people into the party in order to have a 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 that he inherited the name from his father.
“If you come from a family with 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, Speaker, 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 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 mobilize for our party, we mobilize extensively. Definitely we’re going to win the election come 2027 general elections”.
