Erstwhile national vice chairman (North West) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) , Salihu Lukman, has given reasons why he resigned his position, saying he was compelled to quit by to allow constitutional order in the party failure
Lukman had tendered his letter of resignation on Wednesday to the party’s acting national chairman, saying he was quitting instead of remaining in the party and constituted a distraction for leaders and the Tinubu government.
But in a statement he issued in Abuja yesterday, the Kaduna-born politician said he was exhausted by his continuous fight against inconsistencies in the governing party.
He said since news of his resignation from the party broke, he had received so many queries and responses, all expressing disappointment in one way or the other with his action.
He said, “My common explanation is that I am just tired of having to remain in the fighting mode, campaigning for the reform of the APC. First, it was against the leadership of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole who was my boss and in many respects my mentor for more than sixteen years.
“Not long after we thought the exit of Comrade Oshiomhole and the whole NWC under his leadership would provide the opportunity to reform the APC and return it to its founding vision of becoming a progressive party did we come to the sad realisation that we had to wage another bitter struggle to get the Caretaker Committee led by His Excellency Mai Mala to organise a National Convention to produce a new leadership.
“From tenure of six months, it was almost an impossible task to push His Excellency Mai Mala to organise a National Convention in 27 months. With the emergence of our NWC led by Sen. Abdullahi Adamu, all hopes were dashed when with every passing day we were confronted with reigns of impunity whereby it was as if the constitution of the party was suspended.
“Almost all organs of the party were frozen and as leaders of the party we were forced to accept illegality as normal and acceptable. Ordinarily, it should be expected that the departure of Sen. Adamu and Sen. Iyiola Omisore should provide a window of opportunity to return the APC to constitutional order.
“Sadly, the turn of events in the last 10 days since the resignation of Sen. Adamu and Sen. Omisore suggests to the contrary. Members of the NWC were left in suspense. A meeting of NWC with PGF scheduled for Wednesday, July 19, 2023 was cancelled without any explanation. Suddenly, Sen. Hope Uzodinma, in his capacity as Chairman of Progressive Governors Forum (PGF) converted himself into a receiver manager for the party and began to act almost as the party’s NWC.
Speculation about the nomination of Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje as nominee of Governors and President Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu then started and became stronger each day. Efforts to highlight legal and moral issues which should require a rethink were simply ignored. The dominant view among leaders is that once President Asiwaju Tinubu has decided on an issue, we should just simply work for its success even with all the legal and moral questions.”
Still insisting on retaining the national chairmanship position in the North Central, Lukman wondered why Nasarawa State is not treated in the same way like Osun State, which is debating possible replacement of Sen. Omisore for the position of national secretary of APC in line with provisions of the party’s constitution.
He continued: “Why the double standards? I wish I could pretend to be dumb and blind on these issues. Unfortunately, I cannot.
“Painful as it is, I want to appeal to President Asiwaju Tinubu and all our leaders to resist the temptations that would project our party and our leaders as champions of illegality and repression. I hold the strong conviction that President Asiwaju Tinubu will not only succeed but lead Nigeria to a new era of unconstrained democratic development.
“As members of APC, we must provide critical support to President Asiwaju Tinubu such that rule of law in all its ramifications will define his tenure for the next four years. Achieving that would require unwavering commitment to build the APC to develop every needed capacity to function as the regulatory authority holding every leader of the party, including President Asiwaju Tinubu accountable.”
While urging members to support President Asiwaju Tinubu to succeed, Lukman said: “Perhaps, it is important to clarify that this is not in any way questioning the authority of President Asiwaju Tinubu as the moral leader of the party. Being the moral leader of the party doesn’t give him the power of exercising statutory functions of organs of the party or unilaterally changing provisions of the party’s constitution.
“It will amount to setting President Asiwaju Tinubu for failure in the worst possible way to encourage him to act in a manner that is illegal and immoral.”
“If the scheming to have Dr. Ganduje emerge as the next national chairman of APC succeeds with all the legal and moral questions, as a party, we would have set the stage for the destruction of our party and God forbids, we would have laid the foundation that will make President Asiwaju Tinubu and all our elected representatives unpopular.”
