Salihu Lukman, the North-West National Vice Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, has voiced his concerns about the leadership style of the party’s National Chairman, Senator Abdullahi Adamu.
Lukman warns that the ruling party is being governed in a highly authoritative manner, resembling a military barrack, with little regard for the National Working Committee.
He further expresses worry over the concentration of power in the hands of the national chairman, who unilaterally makes decisions pertaining to the day-to-day operations of the party secretariat and significant party-related matters.
Lukman made the revelation in a statement issued in Abuja on Friday titled ‘Rebuilding the APC to Reform Nigerian Politics: Task Before President Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.’
“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.
“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,” Lukman lamented.
His claim comes exactly one year after he wrote former President Muhammadu Buhari, the then Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, and other APC stakeholders in a leaked letter about how the party leadership was running a one-man show.
Lukman not only appealed to President Tinubu to initiate reforms within the APC but also cautions that if immediate action is not taken, the leadership of the National Working Committee (NWC) could suffer a fate similar to the previous administrations of Adams Oshiomhole and Mai Mala Buni, fading away into obscurity.
He said, “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.”
Efforts to get the reactions of the National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Felix Morka, and the APC Director of Publicity, Bala Ibrahim, proved abortive.
“Lukman is a member of the NWC and one of us. What he wrote is from his own point of view. But I can assure you all matters will be resolved at the end of the day,” Deputy National Organising Secretary of the party, Nze Chidi Duru, said.
