Salihu Lukman, the former national vice chairman (North West) of the All Progressives Congress, APC, has claimed that several party leaders who opposed President Bola Tinubu’s presidential bid are now being recruited into critical government positions.
He made specific reference to Hope Uzodinma, governor of Imo State, whom he claimed had funded the effort to adopt former Senate president Ahmed Lawan as the APC consensus presidential candidate.
He claims that Uzodimma was nevertheless successful in his bid to become Tinubu’s appointed Chairman of the Progressive Governors’ Forum (PGF).
On Wednesday, November 8th, Lukman released a lengthy statement in Abuja headlined “Agonising Experience of Being APC Member; Message to APC leaders” in which he made this point.
Some party leaders who opposed Tinubu’s presidential ambition are now appointees in the Federal Government, which has Lukman very concerned.
He went on to say, “When, for instance, party leaders who were boisterously opposed to the Presidential ambition of President Tinubu are today appointees in the federal government, and in the case of Governors such as Sen. Hope Uzodinma, who financed the attempt to manipulate the emergence of Sen. Ahmed Lawan as the consensus Presidential candidate of APC, emerging as the Chairman of Progressive Governors beat the imagination of every founding leader of APC, and in every respect h”
Former APC zonal leader urged the ruling party not to imitate the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in its drive to consolidate power.
When the All Progressives Congress (APC) first formed in 2013, its stated goal was to make all Nigerian political parties more internally democratic. Undoubtedly, both President Buhari and President Tinubu provided the necessary leadership to convince and motivate Nigerians to vote for the APC.
He warned that the APC should not stray from the pledged goals and objectives of changing the country’s democratic culture and principles which drew Nigerians to the party at its start 10 years ago.
On the other hand, as Lukman put it, “instead of reforming the APC to return it to its founding vision, we are consolidating and emerging as a malfunctioned and despotic party organisation, which is increasingly becoming a replica of the PDP by every passing day.”
He said, “We can deceive ourselves to imagine that we can continue to succeed in emerging victorious in elections, and successful leaders surround themselves with sycophants who only tell them what they want to hear, but it will not change the reality of betrayal, and it will not protect leaders.”
In the words of one of our faithful party members: “As loyal party members, we will continue to campaign for the reform of APC and party politics generally in the country.”
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