Immediate-past Director-General of the Progressive Governors’ Forum PGF, Salihu Moh. Lukman said he has uncovered plots by some members of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change CPC, one of the legacy parties which merged to form the All Progressives Congress APC, to impose one of their own on the party ahead of its March 26 national convention.
This was as he accused some ministers in President Muhammadu Buhari’s cabinet of working to undermine him, faulting the president’s recent reversal of himself on the sack of the National Chairman, Caretaker Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee CECPC of the ruling All Progressives Congress APC, Gov. Mai Mala Buni.
Reacting to developments in the party, Lukman disclosed how the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, his Aviation counterpart, Hadi Sirika and that of Education, Adamu Adamu who belong to the defunct Congress for Progressive Change CPC were in London to convince Buhari to backtrack on his earlier decision on Gov. Buni.
He said part of the sentiment being used by the London lobby team of Sen. Sirika, Mallam Malami, Mallam Adamu and Hon. Faruk Adamu Aliyu was to ensure that the old Congress for Progressives Change (CPC) leaders are not ‘marginalized’ in the new APC leadership to emerge from the March 26 National Convention.
He said; “Associates of the President should also respect decisions the President takes jointly with other party leaders instead of undermining his liberal disposition by seeking to get him to reverse decisions he jointly took with other party leaders.
“It was the liberal disposition of the President that allows him to respect positions of party leaders, based on which he subscribes to decisions and delegate implementation to competent structures of the party. If the President can respect other party leaders, why should other associates of the President exude any form of disrespect or contempt for other party leaders in whatever way?
“Accordingly, APC leaders and members should appeal to both President Buhari and his old political associates in the old CPC to refrain from acts that will undermine the authority of the President as the leader of the party. The President needs to recognize that being the leader of the party, imposes on him some level of propriety, which requires that once decisions are taken through meetings, it will require at least another meeting to change decisions taken.
“In every respect, the decisions of the President as conveyed in the letter to His Excellency Abubakar Atiku Bagudu, PGF Chairman of March 16, 2022, directing a ‘return to status quo ante could have been achieved from the London meeting with Governors Fayemi and El-Rufai. The letter to the PGF Chairman was avoidable and unnecessary”, he stated.
Lukman cautioned those he referred to as the “so-called old CPC leaders” to stop projecting the President as a leader of only a section of party members.
“The President is the leader of all members of the APC and all Nigerians. Some of the so-called old CPC members should also be reminded that, in their own rights, they have what it takes to successfully negotiate their emergence as leaders and candidates of the party without resorting to the undemocratic practices of imposition. Many of them are highly respected leaders of the APC and therefore, given free and fair environment for electoral contests within the APC, they can win elections to emerge as party leaders and candidates for elective offices. APC leaders and members should therefore appeal to these old CPC leaders to properly integrate themselves in the structures of the APC and develop the needed confidence to freely negotiate for leadership positions in the party based on the ability to mobilise support to win majority votes.
Alleged imposition
Lukman added that the three ministers are working to get President Muhammadu Buhari to endorse Him. Farouk Adamu Aliyu as Deputy National Chairman, North of the APC.
He wondered why they are not interested in the reversal of the speculated anointment of Sen. Abdullahi Adamu as the President’s choice for the National Chairman in favour of Sen. Umaru Tanko Al-Makura, who he said is by far the most qualified former CPC leader aspiring for the position of National Chairman.
“Noting that Sen. Adamu was never a member of CPC, unlike Sen. Al-Makura who was the only elected CPC Governor in the country between 2011 and 2013 when CPC was dissolved into the current APC, why shouldn’t any CPC lobbyist prioritize the case of National Chairman over and above a Deputy National Chairman?
“This partly highlights the limitations of all the scheming influencing many of the President’s decisions to reverse decisions he took around all the leadership contestation in the party. Why should the President endorse Sen. Adamu over Sen. Al-Makura as the National Chairman of the APC? Didn’t Sen. Al-Makura defeat Sen. Adamu, which made the CPC to have the only State, Nasarawa, it won in 2011?
“Sen. Al-Makura has led the APC to victory in all elections in Nasarawa State since 2015. In fact, it could be argued without any fear of contradiction that Sen. Adamu was compelled to leave the PDP because of the domineering electoral influence of the APC in Nasarawa State under the leadership of Sen. Al-Makura. Every rational consideration would expect President Buhari to choose Sen. Al-Makura ahead of Sen. Adamu. But the same old irrational and illogical decisions leading to the imposition of candidates in ANPP and CPC have found their way to APC and may have influenced President Buhari’s decision for Sen. Adamu over Sen. Al-Makura. These irrational and illogical decisions are driven by people who are opposed to political contests because they must impose themselves at all costs using their close relationship with President Buhari. Largely because they hardly have much electoral significance, meaning that on their own they can hardly win elections, instead, they just want to ride on decisions of the President to anoint them as candidates based on which they may succeed in bulldozing their way to emerge as elected leaders and candidates.
“Partly because the so-called CPC lobby around President Buhari wasn’t about getting trustworthy people to emerge as APC leaders during the March 26 National Convention, the objective may have been to bring in people who can do the hatchet job of imposing some so-called CPC old leaders as candidates for 2023 elections.
“Noting that, for instance, both Mallam Malami and Sen. Sirika are aspiring to emerge as APC Governorship candidates for Kebbi and Katsina States respectively, this may be the major consideration for the lobby around Hon. Aliyu to become the Deputy National Chairman North. Also noting that both Mallam Malami and Sen. Sirika are facing strong opposition within the party in their respective states, Kebbi and Katsina, the suspicion that they want Hon. Aliyu as Deputy National Chairman North so that he can do the hatchet job of producing them as candidates by whatever means cannot be dismissed”, he stated.
