Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
The Director-General Progressive Governors Forum (PGF) of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Salihu Moh. Lukman, has urged all committed party members and leaders to rally behind President Muhammadu Buhari for the scheduled virtual National Executive Committee (NEC) to reset the party to its 2013 orientation of inclusive and participatory politics.
In a statement he issued in Abuja on Wednesday, titled “APC at crossroad -are there going to be leaders or blacklegs?, he reiterated his appeals to the leaders not to allow the ruling party sink beyond redemption.
“Some drastic steps are just required to restore some order and sanity in APC. With all the confusion as to who is our presiding officer, coupled with the fact that the most important structure that is saddled with the responsibility of convening meetings of all organs of the party is fractured and entangled in webs of legal cases, it is either the confusion is allowed to continue and eventual end with the demise of the party, or our leaders find a way to save the party. “Given such a situation, one would expect our leaders to be united in saving the situation. Will this be the case? Or are we going to have blacklegs acting as so-called leaders working to ensure the demise of the party through creating all manner of divisions just to ensure that the current ugly situation is retained? Would these blacklegs seek to create or entrench all manner of legal confusion?
“These are critical questions now that with the approval of President Buhari, a meeting of NEC has been called. Would these so-called leaders acting as blacklegs seek to undermine the moral authority of the President as the leader of the party? Already, report has dismissed a meeting held by the President with the governors of the party as ‘Anti-Oshiomhole governors submit position to Buhari’. Is this headline a reflection of the position of the leader? Is the message underlining this headline going to serve as the basis of opposition against the initiative by the President the ensure that a NEC meeting hold? With the way the President’s name is presented using just his first name, isn’t that already indicative of some measure of rebellion?
“With the NEC meeting scheduled to hold in less than 48 hours, if it is reflective of rebellion, certain element may activate all support base to attempt to block the NEC meeting, including boycotting the NEC. Be that as it may, how will leaders or blacklegs relate with the NEC and the decisions it will take? Will they seek to take advantage of the NEC to reset the process of party building back to the point whereby it become possible for meetings of party organs to hold and through those meetings seek to resolve all our internal problems, including reconciling all our leaders and repositioning it for undisputed electoral victories?
“The days ahead will confirm whether we have party leaders or blacklegs. All committed party members and leaders should rally behind President Buhari in support of the scheduled NEC to hold so that we are able to reset the APC back to its 2013 orientation of inclusive and participatory politics. To achieve that, the public debate should be about proposals to ensure that the NEC succeed rather than attempting to throw up legal blockades!” he said in the statement.
Writing further, he said: Yet, we call ourselves progressives. No need to look for anybody who is a reactionary with some of progressive leaders we have in APC. Our leaders have degenerated to pseudo-ethnic champions. Are we heading for a merger with Arewa, Afeniferi, Biafra and all the known ethnic groups?
“It is such a mess that almost every passing day, we just keep descending lower and lower. Not only that members get more and more frustrated, but also that Nigerians become more and more disappointed and some of our leaders with mandate to govern the country are daily being distracted.
Instead of facing the business of government and strengthening the capacity of APC governments at federal and states levels to deliver on their campaign promises, it is a case of leadership conflicts all over the place.
“Rather than have party leadership making efforts to resolve these conflicts, they become the major disputants and litigants. If the dispute turns out to be between these party leaders and elected functionaries of government, once the circle of election come, these functionaries should be ready to be thrown out no matter their records in government.
“Professors and all manner of clownish supporters will be recruited to defend and present actions of these party leaders as decisions of party structures and therefore reflective of the supremacy of the party,” he noted.