The Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) e-Membership Registration Committee, Chief Raymond Dokpesi, has said that leadership of the party are now rebranding it in order to conform with global best practice of political participation.
The chairman who spoke during the official inauguration of the party’s electronic registration in Etsako East Local Government Area of Edo State yesterday, said that the current leadership are not drifting from the ideals of the founding fathers, but that part of the objectives of the project was to return the party to its members, many of whom belonged to the younger generation and were attuned to the modern ways of doing things.
“This is the age of the social media, not even the traditional media. The people that are going to be voters, they don’t go and watch television; they don’t listen to the radio. They are just busy on their social media and it is what somebody posts, true or false, that is what he knows.
“So, you can say on your TV 1,000 and one things; the younger ones don’t have access to it. And if you say you must return the party to these younger ones, you must be in the position to lead them. And the surest way you can lead them is through the biometric registration, to be able to have their contacts and be able to interact with them.”
Dokpesi also noted that a critical part of the biometric registration, which was being managed by an IT firm, E-connect Technologies Limited, was to eliminate the challenge of godfatherism or sponsorship of the party by a few during electioneering campaigns, as each member can contribute funds to the party by virtue of his or her membership. [myad]
