A pressure group within the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kwara State has alleged that National Identity Numbers (NIN) belonging to pensioners and students were collected and used without consent to inflate party membership figures in Ilorin.
The group, led by its coordinator, Abdulganiyu Omowaye, made the allegation in a statement issued on Saturday in Ilorin, warning that the practice poses legal and ethical risks to the party and affected individuals.
Omowaye alleged that some party operatives collected NINs from civil servants, pensioners and students under the guise of empowerment and registration programmes, only to deploy the data for APC membership registration.
According to him, several party members discovered during the registration exercise that their details had already been used without their knowledge.
“At my registration centre, some of our members came with their NINs only to be told that their details had already been used. This happened to many people. When we traced the issue, we discovered their data had earlier been collected and used without consent,” he said.
He further claimed that NINs of elderly citizens benefiting from social welfare programmes and students were allegedly used to boost membership figures in Kwara Central ahead of the party’s forthcoming congresses.
Omowaye described the alleged act as a violation of citizens’ rights and warned that it could expose victims to identity theft and other security risks.
He called on the national leadership of the APC to investigate the claims, suspend any disputed membership figures from Kwara Central and deploy stricter monitoring mechanisms to ensure transparency in the ongoing registration exercise.
The group also urged the party to sanction anyone found culpable, stressing that the credibility of the party’s internal processes must be protected.
The APC in Kwara State had yet to officially respond to the allegations as of the time of filing this report.
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