A former National Vice Chairman of the All Progressives Congress for the North-West, Salihu Lukman, has urged President Bola Tinubu to learn from the ideology and political sagacity of the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo.
According to Lukman, this should be done if Tinubu hopes to genuinely surmount the problems plaguing the country and his party.
He also urged Nigerians to hold the President and other serving political leaders accountable for their electoral promises.
The APC chieftain gave the charge in a statement released in Abuja on Monday titled “Nigerian Politics of Morbid Desire for Naked Power.”
While expressing concerns that Tinubu is exhibiting the same behavioural pattern as his predecessor by demobilising APC structures from operating in line with the provisions of the party constitution, Lukman said there is a need to avert the 2015 scenario where the then government of the Peoples Democratic Party was kicked out of power.
This was even as the ex-Director-General of the Progressives Governors’ Forum stressed that there is a limit to which Nigerians can continue to tolerate and accommodate injustice, inequitable representation, and unfairness on account of leaders entrusted with governmental responsibilities.
He said, “As late Chief Awolowo has argued, the need for a campaign to end morbid desire for naked power in Nigerian politics is urgent and massive. Nigerians must not allow serving political leaders to reduce the current challenges facing the country to the cheap question of who will emerge as the next President of Nigeria in 2027.
“Whether President Asiwaju Tinubu will continue for another four years after 2027 or not should be determined based on his ability or otherwise to restore constitutional order and return the APC to its founding vision of being oriented as a progressive political party.
“APC leaders, including President Asiwaju Tinubu have very limited choices in this respect. It is quite worrisome and disappointing that with every change in leadership of the party, respect for rules of the APC as contained in the APC constitution gets further eroded.
“Very troubling that after 10 years of APC existence, the National Advisory Council, which is expected to serve as the conscience of the party is yet to be constituted. The APC has no defined funding mechanism. The party doesn’t operate any budget and doesn’t render financial account to any organ.
“Almost all operations of the party, including managing its finances is manage in ad hoc manner based on the personal discretion of the national chairman. These were the main issues, which were responsible for the internal disagreements with the leadership of Sen. Abdullahi Adamu and Sen. Iyiola Omisore leading to their resignations.
“The capacity of President Asiwaju Tinubu’s government to achieve ‘moral and spiritual reconstruction’ of Nigeria in line with the political foresight and ingenuity of late Chief Awolowo who is supposed to be the political role model of President Asiwaju Tinubu is only possible if structures of the APC are allowed to function in line with the provision of the party’s constitution.
“Anything short of that will amount to political betrayal of late Chief Awolowo. President Asiwaju Tinubu must never allow history to record him as one of those who betrayed late Chief Awolowo.”