The National Vice Chairman, Northwest of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, Salihu Lukman, has said that the incoming APC administration and leaders of the party must subordinate themselves to party decisions.
Lukman stated this on Wednesday while speaking on the discard of Governor Nasir El-Rufai committee report on true federalism by the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari administration. He said such action should be regarded as an anti-party activity.
He said that El-Rufai’s committee was set up the Chief John Odigie-Oyegun-led National Working Committee, NWC, of the party.
“Its report was distilled into a workable document and forwarded to both the executive and legislature controlled by the party.
“However, the committee’s recommendations were never debated, let alone considered for implementation,” he lamented.
“Leaders of the party must have the humility to subordinate themselves to party decisions.
”A situation where the party will invest time and resources to produce recommendations such as the one produced by the Mal. Nasir El-Rufai committee on true federalism and ignored by government is not only unacceptable but should be regarded as anti-party activity.
“The commitment of leaders to democracy must be reflected in their willingness to implement decisions of party organs”.
Speaking about the next era of APC government under Tinubu, he said, “It must signal the era of renewed hope for the development of democracy in Nigeria.
“It should above all be the era for the institutional development of APC as a political party,” he stated.
“We should appeal to Asiwaju Tinubu, being the new leader of our party, to consider this golden opportunity as a call to action to continue the struggle for the development of Nigerian democracy.
“This will require considerable attention and focus on the development of our party, which will require some internal reform measures to guarantee internal competition within the party. Some of the things that should be immediately done is to ensure that the National Working Committee, NWC, is accountable and respect the constitution of the party.
Lukman also blamed the party’s internal fighting for the loss suffered by some of its candidates during the February 25 election.
He said: “Unhealthy state of internal party contest, therefore, leading to imposition of candidates could be attributed as the source for legitimacy for the disrespectful conducts of candidates and politicians who lost elections.
“It is also perhaps the source of challenges leading to some of the avoidable outcomes of the 2023 elections in many states.”
Ifunanya Ikueze is an Engineer, Safety Professional, Writer, Investor, Entrepreneur and Educator.
