From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
Director-General, All Progressives Congress (APC) Progressive Governors Forum (PGF), Salihu Moh Lukman, has said that the ruling party’s committee report on true federalism is panacea for lasting peace in the country.
Reacting to heightened ethnic tension across the country over activities of bandits and killer herdsmen, Lukman took a swipe at the spokespersons for president Muhammadu Buhari for using unguided utterances to worsen ethnic division in the country.
Writing under the title, “Ethnic and religious hatred and the deceitful campaigns in Nigeria” Lukman suggested the country initiated the process of implementing the recommendations contained in the APC True Federalism report.
He further noted that considering the delicate nature of the issues, a strategic approach should have been for the presidency to allow the Minister of Information to manage the responsibility of communicating positions of the Federal Government to the public.
“No doubt every Nigerian must be worried about what is going on. Much more troubling is the fact that pronouncements of Mallam Garba Shehu on these issues tend to unfortunately accentuate our polarisation. While recognising that it is necessary for government to make some public responses to most of these developments, should it come from the office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President? Being a matter that may require clarifications bordering on both issues of interpretations of the law and policy of government, one would have thought it is better handled at ministerial level.
“In 2017 when Nnamdi Kanu’s IPOB and the so-called Arewa Youth got heightened so much that there was the senseless ultimatum to Igbos to vacate the north and national debate on restructuring was producing all manner of proposals including maps of break-away parts of Nigeria, the APC National Working Committee under the leadership of Chief John Odigie-Oyegun initiated internal consultations leading to the appointment of the Mallam Nasir El-Rufai led APC committee on true federalism.”