- No crisis in ruling party, says Morka
The National Vice Chairman (North West) of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Salihu Mohd Lukman, has advised that the Progressive Governors’ Forum (PGF) should continue to play its conventional role as the conscience of the party. He also appealed to the governors to ensure that the forum guides the party in taking the right decisions. This was just as the ruling party dismissed insinuations in some quarters that it had been thrown into a crisis on account of the recent resignation of its National Chairman and National Secretary.
Lukman’s appeal was contained in a letter he wrote to the PGD Chairman and governor of Imo State, Senator Hope Uzodinma, a copy of which was sighted by our correspondent in Abuja dated July 21, 2023, titled, “APC National Chairman: PGF should serve as the Conscience of APC.” The letter was in reaction to reports of endorsement of former Kano State governor, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, as the next National Chairman of APC, a decision Lukman argued to be “unfair and unjust” to the people of North Central where the former Chairman hailed from.
According to Lukman, “I want to strongly appeal to Your Excellency, as the PGF Chairman to kindly return PGF to its conventional role of acting as the conscience of the party by ensuring that the party always takes the right decisions, which will protect the interest of every member, every region and all interest.” Though Lukman, a former Director General of PGF, admitted that the governors as a critical power bloc within the APC have the right to endorse any candidate for the position of National Chairman, he however frowned at the mode of making such a decision public.
The letter reads in part: “It is quite troubling that Progressive Governors Forum (PGF) under Your Excellency’s leadership is being reported to have decided on adopting Abdullahi Umar Ganduje to become the next National Chairman of APC. While it is within the right of Progressive Governors being a very critical power bloc within the APC to endorse any candidate for the position of National Chairman, to make such a decision public, in whatever manner, is unfair to both President Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and other leaders of the party who are not members of PGF. It is even unfair to Dr. Ganduje who is being endorsed.
“As a member of NWC, I feel highly slighted that I am only encountering such endorsement in the media. Coming shortly after the resignation of Sen. Abdullahi Adamu and Sen. Iyiola Omisore as National Chairman and National Secretary respectively who were accused of undermining organs of the party, it raises questions as to whether PGF under your leadership shares the commitment to restore constitutional order in APC and return the party to its founding vision.
“If PGF is to act as the conscience of the party, even if assuming as it is being promoted in the public that the endorsement is coming from President Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the PGF I know would have taken every step to convince the President otherwise and if the President insisted, they would have shielded the President by owning the decision. But to handle the endorsement in the way it appears in the public is unfair to President Asiwaju Tinubu and unfair to Dr. Ganduje who is being alleged to have put so much pressure on the President, which is not true.
“I want to strongly appeal to Your Excellency, as the PGF Chairman to kindly return PGF to its conventional role of acting as the conscience of the party by ensuring that the party always takes the right decisions, which will protect the interest of every member, every region and all interest,” Lukman advised.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday dismissed insinuations in some quarters that it had been thrown into a crisis on account of the recent resignation of its National Chairman and National Secretary. While allaying fears of a crisis within the party, National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Felix Morka, said in a statement in Abuja that Senator Abdullahi Adamu and Senator Iyiola Omisore voluntarily resigned as National Chairman and National Secretary respectively. He described their exit as “a normal part of the democratic process.” The party, he insisted, remained solid and united.
“The rapid and seamless succession, in acting capacities, to both offices exemplifies the cogency of its constitutional processes. All sections of the Party’s college of leadership stand united in the quest for a more progressive party,” he said. The party’s spokesman further argued that while individual party leaders and members retain their right to express their thoughts and opinions, “they do not represent the official position of the NWC or the party. Official position of the NWC on the subject of succession to any vacant offices of the NWC or any other subject will be communicated via the official channels of the NWC,” he said.