Dr. Salihu Lukman, former national vice-chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), said the party is now part of the opposition party Peoples Democratic Party, which was under former President Olusegun Obasanjo in power from 1999 to 2007. He said it is at the level of the party (PDP).
Mr. Lukman, in his paper entitled “The cancer destroying Nigeria’s democracy,” said that six months after the emergence of President Asiwaju Tinubu, what is very clear is that the development of the APC as a political party is He argued that his commitment may only be guaranteed to a certain extent. The party will give him what he wants.
He argued that unless political parties are forced to abide by rules based on which institutions are allowed to function, problems of manipulation of political contests through imposition, vote-buying, and collusion will continue.
“This is almost a return to the old PDP model of party organization under former President Olusegun Obasanjo, which demanded 100% loyalty,” he said.
“With no attempt to reopen old wounds, 100% loyalty led to grave silence within the APC when Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje was proposed as National Chairman by President Asiwaju Tinubu .
“After the successful emergence of Dr. Ganduje, there is also graveyard silence even when Dr. Ganduje continued the practice of freezing the party structure.
“It has been almost four months since Dr Ganduje took over as the APC National Chairman and no organ meeting has been held.
Given this ugly reality, he said, it can only be expected that a culture of manipulating political disputes through imposition, vote-buying and collusion will take root in the APC.
He added: “It could grow to the point where almost all APC candidates for the 2027 elections could be produced by imposition, as was the case with the PDP in 2007.” Unless we want to lie to ourselves, we currently have a culture of manipulating political struggles through imposition, vote buying, and collusion.
“The APC has reached the point where the PDP was in 2007.On May 29, 2007, the late President Umaru Musa Yardua, while delivering his inaugural address to the nation, announced that he had come to power. Recall that we acknowledged that elections had their shortcomings and pledged to: A committee will be set up to investigate the whole matter.”
He therefore stressed that the country’s electoral reform proposals must include a stronger regulatory framework for the operation of political parties in the country.
He added: “If INEC is not separated and a political party regulation commission is not established as proposed by the Justice Uwais committee, there will be no system to regulate the conduct of political parties in the country, including forcing political parties to respect their own rules. should be strengthened,” he added.
“As long as political parties in Nigeria are allowed to operate in a lawless manner, the problem of manipulating political contests will continue,” he said. The challenge of disentangling the relationships that link motivation-based failures will continue. “Country” will continue to elude us as a nation.
“On another level, we, as loyal APC members, urge all APC leaders, especially President Awaju Tinubu, to continue to err on the side of false notions that they can continue to succeed in imposing their choices on Nigerians. We must appeal to people to resist the temptation to indulge in beliefs.
“APC leaders must be humble enough to bring themselves down to the level of ordinary Nigerians as much as possible and have a more listening ear.
“Failure to listen to Nigerians and have the humility necessary to live up to the expectations of Nigerians is an unethical act by leaders who are manipulating political disputes. As our Christian brothers and sisters say, may this not be our role in the APC.”
Source: guardian.ng