Stakeholders of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) under the auspices of APC Rebirth have accused the Governors of the party of masterminding the resignation of Director General of their Forum, Salihu Lukman.
BusinessDay had reported that the Lukman, Director General, Progressive Governors Forum (PGF) was forced to resign his position at a meeting of the Governors on Sunday for coming hard on the APC Caretaker Committee led by their colleague, Governor Mai-Mala Buni to fix a date for the conversation.
Reacting to the situation, APC Rebirth said there is nothing progressive about the actions of APC Governors that Led to Lukman’s resignation, saying it received the news with sadness.
In a statement signed by the Spokesperson, Aliyu Audu, APC Rebirth it was not unaware of the fact that the APC Governors at their meeting on Sunday orchestrated the PGF Boss resignation over his position on the state of affairs of the APC, and particularly his calls for the conduct of the national convention which is long overdue.
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“Our disappointment is in the fact that a party that prides itself as a progressive party, more so governors elected under its platform, would be so intolerant to opinions that are not in agreement with their desires. We are however not in the least surprised. When we started our campaign for the rebirth of the party as a way to address the obvious nosedive occasioned by the way past and current handlers were managing affairs, we were not only barred from using the party secretariat for any of our activities, members of the group were barred from entering the secretariat.
“Only recently, attempts were made to dissuade invited guests from attending the APC Stakeholders Summit we held at the Shehu Musa Yaradua Centre in Abuja. Where that failed, they sent no less than 20 hoodlums to the venue to disrupt the event. In any case, they failed again.
“Just like the APC Rebirth Group, Salihu Lukman shares a deep concern about the state of affairs of the party. Not only has he courageously and consistently identified the problems, he has made far-reaching recommendations on how best to navigate the booby traps set before the party, but rather than heed his calls, the governors of the APC mounted pressure on him to throw in the towel.
“It is illogical that the attempt to stifle freedom of expression is being promoted by elected executives in a democracy, more so in a party that is said to be progressive. This is not only a sad reminder of our anti-democratic experiences, it also points to the need to elect individuals with requisite intellect and maturity who are able to embrace opposing views and extract the substance therein without recourse to any manner of a witch-hunt. Without gainsaying, there is nothing progressive about the actions of our present leaders in the APC who are behind all the plots to silence constructive opposing views.
“Having now resigned his appointment, Salihu Lukam has freed himself from the shackles the position of the Director-General of the Progressives Governors Forum placed on him. He is now at liberty, more than ever before, to continue his constructive engagement on behalf of millions of APC members who count on the bravery and fair-mindedness of people like him,” the statement read in parts.
