In what sounds like an irony, a chieftain of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Salihu Lukman said with the successful conclusion of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) National Convention, credit must be given to leaders and members of the party for being able to manage the process and elect new leadership.
PDP at the weekend held a National Convention at the Eagle Square, Abuja where it elected a new leadership with a former Nigerian Senate President, Iyorchia Ayu as National Chairman of the main opposition party.
Reacting to the development, Lukman said those who are not members of the party should urge the newly elected PDP leaders to build on the new atmosphere to start a new beginning for the party based on honesty, respect for one another, and above all recognising that politics is all about negotiations and agreement.
The Director-General of the Progressive Governors Forum (PGF) in a statement on Monday said ordinarily, the successful conclusion of the PDP National Convention should only be celebrated by PDP members.
He, however, said given the important role the party has played in orienting politics in Nigeria for 16 years between 1999 and 2015, during which Nigerian politics was made to be opposed to negotiations, it is important to acknowledge that the October 30 PDP National Convention is about the first time, since 1999 perhaps, that there is some semblance of negotiations to produce leaders of the party.
“Whether in the end, the new leaders will be allowed by the power blocs within the PDP to facilitate negotiations, is completely a different matter. By the way, the fact that the party can elect a young person, below 30 years as National Youth Leader means that PDP leaders have recognised that the old culture of arrogance and impunity must be avoided if they are to win the support of Nigerians, which is very positive. This is itself a confirmation that once processes are managed democratically; the right results would be achieved.
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Every Nigerian should wish PDP, its leaders and party members well. Nigerians should hope that PDP leaders will build on the successes of the National Convention to re-orient their politics based on honesty and respect for one another. Being honest should be about taking responsibility.
“From all indications, PDP leaders have only moderated themselves and submitted to processes of internal negotiations up to the National Convention because they are out of power at Federal level. It can be predicted that had PDP been the ruling party in the country, the approach would have been different”, Lukman said.
He expressed worry that despite some of the departures from the old abrasive PDP, just as Nigerians would want to wish PDP well, many of the speeches of PDP leaders at the Convention demonstrated lack of commitment to take responsibility.
The PGF Boss noted that as far as PDP leaders are concerned, all the problems facing Nigeria today is the creation of APC as almost all the speeches of PDP leaders during the Convention were about winning election in 2023 and returning to power.
“Sadly, there is no indication, at any point during the Convention, showing how the party intends to solve Nigeria’s challenges. Not even a reference by any PDP leader during the Convention to any provision of the party’s manifesto, which must have gathered dust in the cabinet of INEC. Perhaps, apart from the few founding members of the party, almost all the delegates to the National Convention have never seen the manifesto of the PDP.
“As much as it is rational for PDP leaders to campaign against the APC and its leaders, being a party that acknowledges its mistakes in 2015, PDP leaders should understand that mobilising Nigerians to vote them should take its bearing from how they want to govern the country differently from the way they did between 1999 and 2015. Anything short of that will be dishonest”, he noted.
Lukman also faulted the APC Caretaker and Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee led by Mai Mala Buni for allowing someone like Femi Fani-Kayode, who is among the dishonest category of PDP leaders to cross over from the PDP to APC without any initiative to reform him.
“Liberal disposition of APC, combined with the inability of some of the appointees of APC led Federal Government to manage issues of communication based on strategy of contracting partnership with Nigerians in responding to national challenges, allowed false misleading narrative of failure against APC government and President Buhari to dominate public debate.
“Consequently, some of the PDP leaders had the audacity to shamelessly accuse APC of being corrupt while addressing delegates during the National Convention at a time when the country is passing through the shock that some of the recovered ‘properties’ from a former Minister of Petroleum under former President Goodluck Jonathan (2009 – 2015), Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke include underwears (bras and pants), estimated at $12.5 million, more than N6 billion”, the APC Chieftain said.
Lukman advised that as APC prepares for its National Convention, issues of the unity of the country and responses to national security challenges should be priorities.
“Just like election of leaders, how APC want to continue with the task of responding to challenges of insecurity should be part of the agenda of the APC National Convention based on which a decision is taken at the Convention by way of adopting an amendment to the party’s manifesto through majority votes by delegates.
“Once that is done, it will assist the APC, its leaders, and especially candidates for 2023 elections to mobilise Nigerians to vote the party. At the same time, it will potentially prepare the party to be capable of neutralising PDP’s toxic politics of promoting hatred with the high probability that it can produce ultra-right-wing candidates for 2023 elections.
“As much as it should be recognised that PDP was able to open itself to negotiation leading to the emergence of new leadership, to the extent that it failed to take advantage of the National Convention to simulate some internal negotiation within the party about how challenges facing the country should be responded to by a PDP government suggest the absence of any commitment to work for a new Nigeria”, he added.
