Salihu Mohammed Lukman, a former National Vice Chairman (North West) of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), has sent an open letter to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in which he lists what he calls unsettling signs in the first few months of the president’s rule.
After his party won the elections on February 25, Tinubu was accused by Lukman of imposing a new Muslim-Muslim scenario in a letter titled “Disturbing Signals: Open Letter to President Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu” on the party.
The present naira-dollar exchange rate, the price of petrol at the pump and his choice of ministers were among what Lukman called, disturbing signals.
He argued that the endorsement of Abdullahi Umar Ganduje and Ajibola Bashiru, two Muslims who would serve as the APC’s national chairman and secretary, is a troubling indicator that is inciting unrest among the party’s supporters and other Nigerians.
He expressed disappointment that, while Bashiru from Osun State had replaced Iyiola Omisore, who resigned as national secretary from the same state, Tinubu had not permitted a former governor of Nasarawa State, Umaru Tanko Al-Makura, who is also loyal to him, or any other APC stalwart from Nasarawa State, to replace Adamu, who resigned as national chairman but preferred endorsing another Muslim-Muslim “ticket.”
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The former vice-chairman of the APC also questioned the criteria used to select ministers, stating that given the current circumstances, Tinubu’s “Renewed Hope” programme might not be carried out.
“Your Excellency, I find it very compelling to send this open letter to you because there are disturbing signals, which if not averted could produce bigger problems and irreversibly destroy our electoral viability as a party.” The letter reads.
“Without attempting to question your authority and commitment to the wellbeing of Nigeria as a nation, within the short period since May 29, 2023 when you assumed office, there are decisions you took, which are very disturbing to many of us who are loyal party members.
“Rather than even attempting to respond to that challenge and demonstrate that truly we only invoked the Muslim-Muslim ticket as an electoral strategy, in a very insensitive manner we imposed another Muslim-Muslim scenario in the party with national chairman and national secretary both Muslims.
“And we want to claim we are a progressive party? What is the brand of our progressive politics? Certainly, not the one which Nigerians expect, which endears us to citizens on account of which Nigerians gave us the mandate to manage the affairs of government since 2015. As it is, both as party members and as Nigerians, our expectation from your government has crashed.”
