National Vice Chairman, North West of the All Progressives Congress, Salihu Lukman, has appealed to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the governors on the party platform to halt the move to announce former Kano state governor, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje as national chairman without recourse to statutory organs of the party.
Lukman made the appeal in a statement entitled, “APC and Question of Party Building,” issued to newsmen at the weekend.
Both Senators Abdullahi Adamu and Iyiola Omisore, resigned last week as national chairman and national secretary of the ruling party.
Lukman who is a member of the National Working Committee submitted that a situation where major decisions were taken under Senator Adamu without recourse to the National Caucus and National Executive Committee should not be allowed to continue.
“The situation we faced today in our APC presents us with the opportunity to restore constitutional order in APC. Once we don’t use the opportunity properly and restore the sanctity of the APC constitution, we would be laying the foundation for worse things to happen under a new National Chairman. “As NWC members we must be seen to be active in the debate of the way forward. A situation whereby President Asiwaju Tinubu and Progressive Governors are being alleged to have decided on Dr. Ganduje as the next National Chairman of APC without consulting other power blocs in the party and without meeting any of the organs of the party, including the NWC, is very risky and potentially damaging to President Asiwaju Tinubu and the party. If this is associated with a President who comes from military background, it will be understandable. But to be associated with President Asiwaju Tinubu whose background is outrightly civilian having to lead the struggle for democracy in Nigeria for almost four decades, it will be highly unimaginable.
“We must therefore appeal to all those sponsoring this campaign to nominate Dr. Ganduje for the position of APC National Chairman, especially His Excellency, Hope Uzodinma, Chairman, Progressive Governors Forum to come to order and allow due process within the party to take its rightful course in the selection process of who become the next APC National Chairman. Nobody, including the PGF, should be allowed to seek to entrench arbitrariness and injustice in the determination of who emerges as the next National Chairman of APC. We must remind everyone, including President Asiwaju Tinubu that so far, the agreed zoning formula in APC seed the position of National Chairman of the party to North Central. Therefore, the relevant section of APC constitution with respect to filling vacancies should be respected. Anything short of that will amount to illegality and will constitute an act of injustice against members of the party from North Central. A party envisioned to be progressive must not be associated with that especially if one of our objectives now is to return the APC to its founding vision of emerging as a progressive party.”
Lukman who incidentally was former Director General of the Progressives Governors Forum maintained that under no circumstance must the APC National Working Committee be subordinated to the whims and caprices of any power bloc in the party, particularly the PGF.
“It is quite disconcerting to imagine a situation whereby President Asiwaju Tinubu does not share the commitment to restore constitutional order in APC or his leadership of the party will take actions that will make him vulnerable to accusation of not following due process and subverting provisions of the APC constitution. Unfortunately, here we are having to contend with such possibility. As things are, the NWC is not only an onlooker but a far distant observer. The power blocs that are being credited with the speculated emergence of Dr. Ganduje as the next National Chairman, including the Presidency, are not even considering any meeting with the NWC or even the Acting National Chairman. “Yet, the NWC has the convening authority for any meeting that can produce the next National Chairman. “Sadly, many members of the NWC, for whatever reasons, seem to be timid and take everything that comes their way as given and therefore right.”
Lukman also argued that to keep to the existing zoning template in the party, a chieftain of the party from North Central be allowed to replace the axed former Nasarawa State Governor, Abdullahi Adamu .
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