Former national vice chairman, North West of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Salihu Lukman, has announced his resignation from the ruling party, claiming that APC has failed the country.
Lukman, who announced his resignation in a letter to selected party leaders, cited sundry issues like freezing of the organs of the party and the leadership of the party under Abdullahi Ganduje has hopelessly devalued the relationship between the party and President Bola Tinubu.
He further claimed that the reality is that APC is no longer a party, stressing that all that exists now is a legal entity that has poor relationship with party leaders and hardly any relationship with Nigerians.
Entitled: ‘Future of Nigerian democracy, letter to selected APC leaders’, Lukman said: “I find it extremely necessary to write and try to clarify my position regarding the situation both in the party and in the country.
“First, it is a shared concern of most leaders of the party that the situation in the country has deteriorated in the last one year since the assumption of office of President Tinubu.
“Unfortunately, all organs of the APC have been frozen and there is hardly any functional channel of internal communication. The leadership of the party under Abdullahi Ganduje have hopelessly devalued the relationship between the party and President Tinubu.
“In fact, the reality is that we don’t have a party. All that exists now is a legal entity that has poor relationship with party leaders and hardly any relationship with Nigerians.
“This is quite depressing. As it is, the sad reality is that President Tinubu is inaccessible to many party leaders. The policies of his government are clearly anti-people and completely contradictory to even his campaign document Renewed Hope. Sadly, the way things are, there is a prevailing atmosphere of being intolerant to criticism.
“Even unlike under former president Muhammadu Buhari, party leaders are being treated in a manner that threatens anyone who could disagree with the president. And from all indications, high-ranking members of his cabinet have limited access to him.
“Consequently, here we are with a government, which is supposedly ours but treating us as recluses, if not enemies. We are anything but stakeholders.
“Since my resignation from the National Working Committee (NWC) of APC, I have made every effort to see the president. Clearly, he doesn’t want to see me. Understandably, like most party leaders, he is angry with my decision to resign, and he has passed judgment without even giving me the benefit of hearing.
“He has exercised his power to take decisions as leader of the party against some of us but as members of the party, we have lost every right to disagree with him even when he takes the most irrational and unjust decisions.
“Typical example is his decision to outrightly marginalise the North Central in the political leadership of the country. And frequently he takes irrational and sometimes very senseless decisions, which as party members we are expected to own.
“Sincerely, the last one year is one of the most traumatic periods in my political life. Everyday, I nursed the hope that God Almighty will touch the president and get him to recover his democratic credentials. Instead, things just progressively continue to get worse.
“And the few people around him, who I thought I had relationship with, continue to avoid or ignore my requests to meet with them. These are Vice President, Kashim Shettima, Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila and National Security Advise, Nuhu Ribadu. Before my resignation from the NWC, I thought I had good relationship with them. Certainly, my relationship with them goes some years way back. “Understandably, they have every right to be angry with me for my decision to resign from the NWC. But the minimum I expect is that I should be given some respect, based on which at least I am given the right to hearing.
“As people who claimed to be progressives, the minimum is that the tolerance levels of our leaders for criticism should be high. I must admit, it is painful to lose a relationship with people you value simply because you disagree with them. I have, however, accepted my circumstance and will have to move on. I have frozen my life in the last one year in the hope that things are going to get better in terms of my personal relationship with both President Tinubu and people around him.
“Some party leaders have told me in unmistaken language that I cannot access any opportunity in this government so long as I continue to criticise the president, the party and our government. I am told, the APC National Chairman, Ganduje, has instructed that money that I spent running the North West zonal office between September 2022 and July 2023 should not be paid to me. Even the N10 million he pledged for my book launch, I am told, cannot be paid to me because of my writings.”
Credit: The Sun
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