Ahead of the 2023 Presidential election, a Chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Salihu Lukman said based on Adams Oshiomhole’s style of leadership, there is very high possibility that whoever he is supporting to be President will be closer, if not worse than, President Obasanjo’s model of garrison leadership.
Lukman stressed that unless urgent steps are taken to rebuild the APC, whether with Oshiomhole as National Chairman or with anyone else, APC is incapable of producing the type of leader that can guarantee permanent departure from the garrison-type leadership we experienced under former President Obasanjo.
He said: “Partly, to blackmail those criticising Comrade Oshiomhole, all those alleged to have been opposed to him are being accused of nursing or supporting ambition for 2023. False as it is, to avoid falling into the pit being dug to produce intolerant leaders, party leaders and members should not be defensive about their positions.
“They should be able to ask, since Comrade Oshiomhole is a threat to the ambition of those opposed to him, it means that there is someone he supports. Who is that person and what does that person represent? Is Comrade Oshiomhole’s leadership attributes representative of the orientation of the person Comrade Oshiomhole is supporting?”.
Lukman who is the Director- General of the Progressives Forum (PGF) in statement released on Sunday in Abuja
debunked claims that he was being used by some APC Governors and leaders to attack Oshiomhole.
He particularly dismissed the social media commentary by one Peter Oparah titled: “what is APC Governors Forum waiting for to sack this cheap hatchet called Lukman they call their DG? He has disgraced them enough”, insisting that working for PGF does not take away his fundamental rights to freedom of expression.
On the perceived failure of APC leadership under Oshiomhole and the current National Working Committee of the party, the PGF Boss said it is easier to hold general elections in Nigeria today than for APC to hold National Executive Committee (NEC) meetings.
According to him APC is supposed to have Board of Trustees but seven years after the emergence of the party, it is yet to be inaugurated, adding that sycophancy has weakened the capacity of party leaders to convene meetings of organs.
“APC National Conventions would appear to only take place when the tenure of leaders expires after four years, notwithstanding the fact that APC constitution also makes provision for mid-term convention after two years.
In truth, one can argue that part of the functions of APC leaders, especially members of NWC is to undermine the APC constitution and be able to mobilise APC members and other Nigerians to defend such actions. Somehow, these issues are being ignored in the whole assessments of problems of the party.
“Yet, when party leaders are criticised for these infractions, it is being translated to mean agenda for 2023. Rather than therefore allow distractions based on highlighting issues of contractual relationship that have no bearing on the challenges, the focus should be on problems of intolerance, which is the source of the leadership crisis in APC. In terms of how it manifests in APC, it is two-fold.
“The first is, what is it that should be done to ensure that the APC is able to democratise itself and based on its democratic credentials produce the kind of leaders Nigerians are looking for? The second issue is, how can we support APC leaders to re-orient themselves in the direction of democratising the party to produce the kind of leaders Nigerians want?
“The first border on the details of the current leadership crisis in APC. The second is really about challenging our leaders to be much more tolerant and honestly engage the issues. It is not about scheming to dominate. If it is about scheming, then no need to expect internal democracy in our parties and we should be ready to accept all the crude practices of manipulating and producing fictitious membership register just ahead of party primary.
“In fact, parties don’t need members. Leaders should exercise the prerogative to assemble members based on capacity to accumulate/procure followership. Once we encourage our leaders to be intolerant, we should just be ready for every known democratic requirement to be undermined.
“In short, the problem of intolerance, is the fundamental leadership challenge in Nigerian politics. Given all the leadership problems of APC at the moment and against the overriding consideration of producing the type of tolerant leaders who should ‘live in the present, with one eye on the future’ as well as ‘right-brain and left-brain’, through democratic process, the first requirement is for APC to ensure that all organs of the party are made functional and they accommodate as all shades of opinions of members.
“Leaders of the party who preside over those organs should be challenged to develop skills to facilitate debate and build consensus out of those debates. That way we can aspire to be able to produce a leader who can build on President Buhari’s liberal candour of allowing the party to exercise its independence without engendering leadership crisis.
“Anything short of that, we should be prepared to produce authoritarian leaders who will always interpret disagreement as subversion. We must not allow platforms provided by APC organs to be reduced to centres for legitimising single story”, Lukman added.
