Salihu Lukman, the All Progressives Congress, (APC) national vice chairman for the northwest has given Abdullahi Adamu, the party’s national chairman a one-week ultimatum to convene National Executive Council (NEC) meeting.
Lukman said he would not hesitate to take further actions, including approaching the court to enforce compliance with the provisions of the party’s constitution regarding the meeting if Adamu failed to convene the NEC meeting.
The APC national vice chairman stated this in an open letter dated Wednesday, April 19 and titled: ‘Restoring constitutional order in APC not negotiable.”
He insisted that Adamu must convene the meeting before May 29 for all issues bordering on a smooth transition from the President Buhari administration to the incoming administration of the president-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu to be addressed.
“If by the end of this one-week notice, no action is taken to convene a NEC meeting as the first step to restoring constitutional order in APC, I will not hesitate to take further actions, including approaching the court to enforce compliance with the provisions of our party’s constitution under your leadership.
“In line with the provision of Article 13.4 (iv) of the APC constitution, present a financial report on the income and expenditure of the party for the last one year.
“In line with the provision of Article 13.3A (xiv) of the APC constitution, prepare a national budget for the party for the period May to December 2023, which should be ratified by the National Working Committee (NWC) for the consideration and approval of NEC.
“In line with the provisions of Article 13.4 (vi) of our party constitution, which directs the NWC to ‘propose electoral guidelines and regulations governing the conduct of elections to party offices at all levels, and procedure for selecting party candidates for elective offices,’ the NWC should immediately develop a proposal to zone leadership positions for the 10th National Assembly and present to NEC for consideration and approval.
“Hold a NEC meeting before May 29, 2023, and 1 – 4 above should be part of the agenda of the NEC.
Submit an audited account of the party for 2022 that was submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) to the NWC.
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Set up a committee to review the 2023 general elections and investigate cases of anti-party activities by leaders and members of the party.
“Given the shameful outcome of the Osun 2022 governorship election and the embarrassing outcome of the 2023 general elections in Osun State whereby we lost all the three senatorial seats, all the House of Representatives seats, and all the House of Assembly seats in the state, the national secretary, Iyiola Omisore who is the most senior party leader in the state should immediately resign,” the letter reads in parts.
He said in addition, the NWC should recommend to NEC that a high-powered reconciliation committee, be set up to facilitate reconciliation with all party leaders in Osun State.
“In order to demonstrate the commitment that we are going to restore constitutional order in the party, actions should commence on all these and NWC should meet within the next two weeks from, Wednesday, April 5, to review progress.
“Today, being April 19, 2023, makes it two weeks since the demands were presented. There was neither acknowledgment nor indication that any of the demands are being considered.
“Although the NWC met on Monday, April 17, 2023, deliberation of the NWC was limited to ratifying our governorship candidates for Kogi, Bayelsa and Imo States for onward transmission to INEC. The only conclusion I can reach is that the demands I presented to you are not important.
“Being the national chairman who is respected by party leaders at all levels, it is worrisome that under your leadership, we will be back to the old problems of being unable to respect provisions of our constitution with respect to convening meetings of organs and ensuring that all our organs are allowed to perform their statutory functions as provided in our constitutions.
“It is more worrisome given that you are a lawyer by training, a very experienced politician who had the rare privilege of being a two-term governor as well as someone who has been operating at the highest level of national politics since the Second Republic.
“By any standard, no one will expect a person of your stature and experience in politics to be taciturn when it comes to managing affairs of the party based on respect for the party’s constitution.
“To say the least, as a member of the NWC, I am scandalised and embarrassed that after one year in office, we are yet to have a regular NEC, national caucus or national advisory council, (NAC) meeting.
“All functions of these organs and decisions expected from them by the constitution are being taken by you, perhaps in consultation with the national secretary.
“Perhaps, the inability to hold quarterly NEC meetings as provided under Article 25.2(i) of the party’s constitution may be the excuse for not having quarterly reports of activities, quarterly financial reports, and national budgets.
“It can also be argued that the problem of the inability to hold quarterly NEC meetings goes way back to the era of Chief John Odigie-Oyegun and is partly responsible for the crisis of leadership during the tenure of Comrade Adams Aliyu Oshiomhole.
“By extension, it could be argued too that the culture of running the affairs of the party based on the discretionary decisions of the national chairman did not start with the current NWC.
“True as this may appear to be, I will imagine that one of the reasons why President Muhammadu Buhari nominated you to serve as the national chairman is that being an experienced politician with all your track records, the least you can achieve is to be able to rally everybody to respect the constitution of the party based on which organs meet as directed by the constitution and decisions taken accordingly,” Lukman said in the letter.
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