Adamu Running APC Like Garrison Commander, Party’s National Vice Chair Alleges

National vice chairman (North-West) of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Salihu Moh’d Lukman, has again descended verbally on the party’s national chairman, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, saying the latter was running the party like a garrison commander in Army barrack without the inputs of members of the National Working Committee (NWC).

As a result, he said the governing party had become a mere shadow of its boisterous self, with the day-to-day administration of the national secretariat and key decisions involving party activities taken at the discretion of the national chairman.

In a statement he issued in Abuja on Friday titled, ‘Rebuilding the APC to Reform Nigerian Politics: Task Before President Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu,’ Lukman accused Adamu of treating NWC members like his appointees.

The former director-general of the Progressive Governors Forum (PGF) said: “The sad reality is that the APC as constituted today is only a shadow of itself, with a national chairman who is highly unaccountable and runs the affairs of the party more like a garrison commander.

“He relates to his colleagues in the NWC just like his appointees. In their name, he meets other leaders of the party and seeks to manipulate party decisions to suit personal vested interests that are only known to him.

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“Recall the shameful attempt to impose Sen. Ahmed Lawan as the consensus presidential candidate of the party. In all the so-called consultations he claimed to have had with other leaders of the party on the matter, perhaps except for the National Secretary (Iyiola Omisore), no member of the NWC was either informed of the details of the consultations or invited.

“Similarly, the NWC was never invited to consider any proposal being negotiated. It was only on June 6, 2022, ahead of the June 8, 2022 National Convention, that Sen. Adamu invited the NWC to inform members that a consensus presidential candidate in the person of Sen. Ahmed Lawan had been chosen. Members were not even given the opportunity to comment on the matter.”

The national vice chairman appealed to President Tinubu to embark on reforms of the APC, cautioning that if the current situation was not nipped in the bud, the NWC could “snowball” into oblivion like the previous eras of Adams Oshiomhole and Mai Mala Buni.

Lukman continued: “With the election of leaders of the 10th National Assembly concluded on Tuesday and the victory of the nominated candidates of the APC for the two chambers, President Bola Tinubu, being the leader of the party, needs to prioritise rebuilding the APC to reform Nigerian politics so that our political parties are developed to grow beyond being mere election vehicles.

“As it is now, the management of the party is limited to the discretion of the national chairman, and when it is convenient, he involves members of the National Working Committee.

“In a few cases, Adamu gets the NWC to legitimise his decisions when the APC constitution only assigns administrative responsibility of implementing decisions of superior organs such as the NEC, National Caucus and National Advisory Council to the NWC. So far, powers of superior organs of the party have been illegally usurped by the National Chairman and, by extension, the NWC.”