A former national vice chairman (North-West) of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Salihu Moh’d Lukman, has asked President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to stop promoting culture of imposition in the governing party.
According to him, the situation in APC after 10 years of existence as a party and eight years as a ruling party was gradually catching up with low standards set by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) during its 16-year rule.
In a statement he issued yesterday, Lukman said it was unacceptable that the president would inspire party members to fight against the culture of imposition, only for him to initiate actions that risk compromising him as a leader who tolerates and promotes imposition within the APC.
The statement titled, “APC: The Inconvenient Reality”, warned that the party would end up betraying all the goodwill of Nigerians if care was not taken.
The former director general of the Progressives Governors Forum (PGF) noted: “Since the emergence of President Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the new moral leader of the APC produces a new reality whereby potential infractions may be created by initiatives directly coming from the President himself. A typical example is the case of altering the APC’s zoning formula by arbitrarily moving the position of the National Chairman from North-Central to North-West.
“Even when for instance, the North-Central remained shut out of consideration from any of the key positions in the leadership of the two chambers of the National Assembly, the position of National Chairman is being occupied by Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje from Kano State, North-West with North-Central completely marginalised both in the party and in the APC controlled federal government led by President Asiwaju Tinubu.
“Intriguingly, APC leaders are calm, not even leaders from North-Central seem to be disturbed by this new reality. What has really taken over President Asiwaju Tinubu?”
“It is also unacceptable that President Asiwaju Tinubu will inspire us to fight against the culture of imposition, only for him to initiate actions that risk compromising him as a leader who tolerates, if not promotes imposition within the APC.”
Accordingly, the APC chieftain called on President Tinubu and the party to prevail on the deputy Senate president, Barau Jibrin, to resign his position for a North-Central senator so as to address the issue of marginalisation in the party.
Lukman alleged that five months into the tenure of President Asiwaju Tinubu, most APC leaders are as unclear about the direction of the government as ordinary Nigerians.
“With the constitutional structures of the APC immobilised, Party leaders and members are left in the dark. In addition, will the North-Central continue to be marginalised throughout the tenure of President Asiwaju Tinubu? Why wouldn’t, for instance, Sen. Jibrin Barau, who is from Kano State where Dr. Ganduje come from, be asked to make the sacrifice by relinquishing his position as Deputy Senate President, in favour of a Senator from North-Central?
“Ideally, these are issues that could be debated internally if structures of the APC are allowed to operate. But because structures have been frozen with Dr. Ganduje conducting the affairs of the party based on business-as-usual practice, even when recommendations are made, they are simply ignored,” Lukman added.
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