National vice chairman (North West) of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Malam Salihu Moh Lukman, has asked the president-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to as a matter of urgency conduct far-reaching reforms in the governing party.
Lukman, who said this should be one of the top priorities of the incoming president, noted that Tinubu would be held accountable on his promises of renewed hope and expectations of most Nigerians.
According to him, purging the APC National Working Committee (NWC) of unaccountable leadership and abuse of office was long overdue, even as he cited the inability of the party’s national leadership to render annual financial reports to any organ of the party as part of the need for the reforms.
In a statement he issued yesterday, the former director-general of the Progressive Governors’ Forum said Tinubu’s emergence as president-elect was a true reflection of reality, noting that coming from the trenches, the former Lagos governor has no excuse not to catalyse the development of democracy to meet the expectations of Nigerians.
In the statement titled: “2023 Nigerian Presidential Election and Matters Arising”, Lukman said first of all, Tinubu must ensure that the APC NWC is accountable and respects the constitution of the party.
He stated, “The next era of APC government under His Excellency Asiwaju Tinubu must produce the rebirth of the struggle for democracy in Nigeria. It must signal the era of renewed hope for the development of democracy in Nigeria. It should above all be the era for the institutional development of APC as a political party.
“Coming from the trenches, Asiwaju Tinubu has no excuse but to chatalyse the development of Nigerian democracy to meet the expectations of Nigerians. Both as Nigerians and as APC members, we will hold Asiwaju Tinubu accountable on these scores. Congratulations Asiwaju Tinubu, Congratulations APC leaders and members, and congratulations Nigerians!
“At this point, we must, as leaders and associates of the president-elect, accept this trust with a high measure of humility. We must acknowledge and thank President Muhammadu Buhari for his leadership.
“In doing so, we should appeal to Asiwaju Tinubu, the new leader of our party, to consider this golden opportunity as a call to action to continue the struggle for the development of Nigerian democracy.
“This will require considerable attention and focus on the development of our party, which will require some internal reform measures to guarantee internal competition within the party.
“A situation whereby the NWC will operate for almost a year without rendering a financial report to any organ of the party is unacceptable. Similarly unacceptable is a situation whereby the NWC will continue to refuse to convene meetings of the National Executive Committee (NEC) as provided in the constitution of the party,” he said.
