Former Director General of the Progressives Governors’ Forum, Salihu Lukman, has he fought for the exit of the former National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Abdullahi Adamu, and the National Secretary, Iyiola Omisore, respectively to make the party function properly.
He said the APC should be made to work after the exit of Senators Adamu and Omisore as the party’s national chairman and secretary, respectively, last July.
Lukman, an immediate Vice Chairman of the APC (North West) made this known on Inside Sources with Laolu Akande which was aired on Channels Television on Friday.
He, therefore, asked urged President Bola Tinubu to make the organs and structures of the ruling party functional.
He said, “The fundamental issue which is what I expect from President Asiwaju is to ensure that the structures of our party are functional.
“My frustration after we fought to get Abdullahi Adamu and Senator Iyiola Omisore out of the leadership of the party, it’s not about getting them out; it’s taking the right steps to ensure that these structures function so that anybody who comes should be able to work based on the constitution of the party.”
Commenting on how the APC has fared thus far, Lukman said, “We had to fight to get Asiwaju to win the ticket. Now, having won the ticket, it shouldn’t be business as usual.
“For instance, if under former President Buhari, the true federalism report by the Committee led by Malam Nasir El-Rufai, I am a member of that Committee. It was honest work that was done, not even to discuss the opinions of leaders; it was to go out there and find out what people think and put them on the weight and let them begin to think in terms of the options and we put the options on the table including draft legislative bills.”
On why the report was not implemented, he said, “I argued about this in several of my writings. The conservative bloc within the APC tends to have its way. They have the sophisticated skills to ensure that what they don’t like isn’t done. They are everywhere and this is part of my frustration with the APC.
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“I expected that we would have a lot of debates in the APC and when meetings are not taking place, no debate takes place; it’s all a question of scheming to get positions, scheming to emerge as candidates even when elections are not taking place. We can’t make progress in a democracy like that.”
