Fashola Raises Alarm: “Why Have Our Votes Dropped?” — Questions APC’s Grassroots Connection

Former Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, has expressed worry over the number of votes accrued by the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Speaking during the APC’s Stakeholders Forum, which endorsed President Bola Tinubu for a second term yesterday in Lagos, Fashola wondered if the APC’s policies still resonate with its traditional base.

The former Lagos governor pointed out that the APC’s closest opposition used to have one-third of its votes, but lamented that the situation has changed.

He wondered if the party had a well-documented register for members who can be engaged to help stimulate votes.

According to Fashola, “Our closest opposition back then used to have about one third of the total votes that we got. That was what it used to look like.

“And so what has happened? Why have the votes dropped? And I think that is the heart of the matter. There are a lot of numbers here, but I don’t want to go into interrogating all of those numbers.

“Where are our traditional voters? Are they still with us? Are they turning out for us? And why are they not turning out enough?

“This is a time for honest answers and for honest questions, and I hope those questions will be asked, as I said, after this meeting by people who are resolved to ensure that we turn out voters for the next election.

“Some of the questions to ask are, whether our policies and programs are still resonating with our traditional base.

“What is our own party reward system like? How do we even network with ourselves?

“I have asked questions such as, if we wanted to undertake a particular program that involved a certain set of tradesmen or tradeswomen, do we have a register that we can consult to say who are the party members who will be interested in this?

“Those are questions that I think this conference provokes us to ask because political party participation is based on enthusiasm.

“If people are enthusiastic, they will turn out and they will vote. But hope is not lost because we are in a season of renewed hope and therefore we will turn our renewed hope into renewed enthusiasm for our party and for our programs.

“Of course, some of the speakers before me have alluded to the growing demography of young people.”

The former minister also wondered why the children of APC leaders are not involved in the party’s affair.

“Now, how many of our children are involved in what we are doing? How many of our children come to our rallies and our campaigns?

“If it is important to us, we must make it important to them and we must find a way to connect them to it. Because really and truly, who would we be handing it over to if not to them?

“And a good place to start is to ask ourselves, in APC-controlled states and state institutions, educational institutions, where are the APC youth wings? How are we connecting and getting people? Because APC can be like any other club in a university that you can join.

“And so these, for me, I think are the questions that we need to ask and we need to answer very, very honestly,” he said.