Immediate past National Vice Chairman, North West of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Salihu Lukman, has raised concern over what he called deliberate disregard for the leadership of the party and its statutory organs by the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration.
Lukman who last July resigned as member of the APC National Working Committee on the eve of Abdullahi Umar Ganduje’s emergence as National Chairman made the allegation in a statement he issued on Monday entitled, “Nigerian Politics of Morbid Desire for Naked Power.”
The former Director-General of the Progressives Governors Forum alleged that the party national leadership was not being carried along in recent appointments made by the Tinubu administration.
He further alleged that similar to what happened in the former administration of Muhammadu Buhari, there is a serious disconnect between President Tinubu and top leaders of the party as certain individuals around the Presidency have formed a shield around him to the consternation of other stakeholders in the APC.
“With former President Muhammadu Buhari and current President Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the leaders of the APC, Nigerians believed and supported the APC. Undeniably, the expected ‘moral and spiritual reconstruction’ of Nigeria, with APC in power since 2015, remained a wish. “Even with President Asiwaju Tinubu in power today, who has throughout his political career associated himself with late Chief Awolowo’s philosophical and ideological leanings, ‘morbid desire for naked power’ seems to be the driving aspirations of his leadership. Otherwise, how can anyone explain the emerging attributes of President Asiwaju Tinubu’s government? Complaints about poor access to the President by many APC leaders is widespread. Capacity of APC leaders to exercise influence on President Asiwaju Tinubu’s government is very narrow.
“Without any doubt, the orientation, attributes, and behavioural patterns of President Asiwaju Tinubu’s government is virtually the same with that of former President Buhari. Both the two are governments produced by APC but interestingly, both APC as a political party and leaders of the party had little or no say in the two governments.
“Appointments into positions in governments were or are practically carried out exclusively without consulting either the party organs or leaders of the party both during the tenure of former President Buhari and currently under President Asiwaju Tinubu. Criteria and qualifications for appointments were or are known only to the two leaders and their close associates. Consequently, party leaders and members became orphans, perhaps worse than when they were in opposition parties.”
Lukman who maintained that the statutory organs of the APC that could make meaningful inputs into the Tinubu administration have been sidelined, also claimed that heads of government agencies are being sacrificed in what he termed “morbid desire for naked power” .
“One important distinction is that in the case of the current President Asiwaju Tinubu’s government, steps are being taken to replace all heads of Federal Government Agencies. This is a complete departure from what obtained under former President Buhari whereby most heads of Federal Government Agencies appointed by PDP Government of former President Goodluck Jonathan were retained virtually throughout the eight-year tenure of former President Buhari, including Mr. Godwin Emefiele former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria. This is mainly responsible for the poor relationship between leaders of the APC and Federal Government appointees even in their respective states. It is also the incentive for most of the cases of anti-party activities by many Federal Government appointees during the 2023 general elections.
“Interestingly, however, with constitutional organs of the APC not functioning, these disloyal leaders of the APC have not only gone unpunished, but there are also many allegations of some of these recalcitrant appointees being reappointed in the President Asiwaju Tinubu’s government. Like during the tenure of former President Buhari, absence of input by organs of the APC in the decisions of current President Asiwaju is producing the undesirable consequences of loyal APC supporters heading some of the Federal Government Agencies being arbitrarily removed even before the end of their tenure.
“Organs of the APC, since the 2015 electoral victory, never function as provided by the APC constitution. As a result, Article 13.3A(vii) of the APC constitution, which requires the National Executive Committee of the APC to ‘Examine the actions taken or legislation proposed or passed by any Government, Legislative House or Local Government Area/Area Council and determine what further actions the Party should take’ is rendered idle. Inability to make organs of the party functional and through the meetings of organs hold elected leaders accountable further entrenched the reality of ‘morbid desire for naked power’, which is very disturbing. Sadly, there seems to be attempts by some people in the current President Asiwaju Tinubu’s government and their supporters to explain this worrisome reality with reference to how bad former President Buhari’s government had destroyed the country.”
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