The All Progressives Congress (APC) has denied claims circulating on social media that notorious terrorist leader, Mohammed Bello Turji, is a registered member of the ruling party, describing the alleged APC membership slip as fake, fabricated and deliberately misleading.
Mohammed Bello Turji is a wanted terrorist figure linked to violent attacks, kidnappings, and banditry in parts of north-western Nigeria, particularly Zamfara State.
In a press statement issued on Tuesday in Abuja, the party said it had been alerted to a viral “APC membership slip” purportedly issued to Bello Turji during the ongoing APC Electronic Registration and Validation Exercise, stressing that the document had no connection whatsoever to its membership database.
“The attention of the All Progressives Congress has been drawn to a fake ‘APC membership slip’ in circulation on social media falsely suggesting that a despicable and notorious terrorist, Mohammed Bello Turji, was registered as a member of our Party,” the APC said.
The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, dismissed the document as a crude fabrication, explaining that none of the details on the slip matched the party’s official records.
“The membership slip is a fabrication, fake and without any association or link, whatsoever, with our membership register and database,” Morka stated.
According to the APC, one of the most glaring indicators of forgery was the claim that the registration took place in ‘Ward 13’ of Shinkafi Local Government Area of Zamfara State, despite the fact that Shinkafi LGA officially has only 10 wards.
“All digital parameters represented on the fake slip bear no connection to our Party’s membership register,” Morka said. “The so-called Ward 13 does not exist, and all other information paraded on the fake slip are nonexistent and certainly not contained in our membership database.”
The party accused unnamed individuals of deliberately circulating the document to mislead the public and tarnish the APC’s image. “This vile fabrication is the handiwork of mischief makers out to hoodwink and confuse members of the public for their own sinister objectives,” the statement added.
Reaffirming its position, the APC urged Nigerians to completely ignore the document, describing it as highly offensive and dangerous misinformation.
“We urge all Party faithful and the general public to disregard the highly offensive document in its entirety,” Morka said.
The APC said it remains committed to lawful political processes and will not tolerate attempts to associate criminal or terrorist elements with its membership.
