A former National Vice-Chairman (North-West) of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Salihu Lukman, says the party will need to renegotiate relationships so that it can win back those who have left. In this interview on Channels TV ‘Politics Today’, monitored by David Lawani, the outspoken APC chieftain also talked about the controversy currently trailing the national chairman of the party, Dr Umar Ganduje, among other issues
Over and over again, we see the national chairman of the APC being torn apart by a political crisis in his state. Why is it so common to want to remove party chairmen?
I think it is worrisome. We are stuck in one place. And I think it begged the question about whether as a party we have made any progress at all. Because when the party was negotiated in 2013, the vision was very clear. Which was about putting in place a party that is entirely different from what we have experienced, with the PDP, including the APC. Now, I think several things have happened that require us to go back to the drawing board and review and identify what has been the challenge. As it is now, my conclusion is that if we limit it to the issue of let us just get rid of Umar Ganduje as the National chairman and bring a new person unless you address the challenges. But what are the challenges? I have said it over and over again, some of the experiences, for instance, under the Adamu tenure, from there to the leadership of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, you will discover that they are practically the same. In the case of Senator Abdullahi Adamu, it was about the frozen organs of the party. Meetings were not taking place. During the tenure of Senator Abdullahi Adamu between March 2022 and July 2023, we had just one National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting. Ideally, it should be taking place every three months. That is four times a year, and there are statutory obligations that require pronouncement of that particular organ, concerning the governance of the party. Issues, for instance, management of funds, having a national budget, the question of what you do concerning influencing policy decisions and how the party is implementing its campaign promises, and what have you.
And you became an activist within the party. How did it happen?
I have been an activist before then anyway. The main issue is that we changed the leadership of Senator Adamu and eight months into the leadership of Dr Umar Ganduje, no NEC meeting has taken place. The same is the problem of the NWC usurping the powers of other organs of the party, which has continued. The NWC is just like the administrative organ which is supposed to be implementing the decisions taken. It is not to make decisions. Now, there is even a critical organ. It is expected that there will be a contest. You will need an organ that will serve as the conscience of the party, always intervening and settling disputes. And that is the National Administrative Committee which is the variant of the Board of Trustees. It has never been inaugurated since it was formed.
Why can’t the party be audited?
We were told, if you remember some of the debates we had. I was told that Senator Abdullahi Adamu and Senator Iyiola Omisore submitted the audited accounts to INEC. Before you submit any audited account, there has to be a decision, for instance, how you appointed the auditor. Who is the auditor? Who do they report to? It is within the powers of the NEC and in the best interest of the party that the audited account be ratified. Up to date, I am not aware of anywhere where the financial statements of the party were presented. Part of the challenge which I never shy away from discussing is that you end up sorting out issues of finance. The question of party funding was never sorted out, party leaders ended up like beggars. Instead of becoming umpires over an elected representative, they become house boys and girls of elected representatives. For me, this is why I said we have to go back to the drawing board. In 2012/ 2013 when the party, APC, was being negotiated, you remember there were a lot of internal debates which aggregated national debate. It regenerated expectations, so much so that Nigerians were looking forward to a situation of a new leadership that produced a President for the country, and who was radically different from what we used to have. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen.
Is it almost the same thing with the PDP, the APC is facing?
That is the challenge. For me, we are faced with the reality, that we present an opportunity for the leaders of the party to go back and renegotiate issues because when you have a political party that doesn’t meet, it is as good as not having a party. We are reduced to another election platform, and the danger is that even in managing an election platform, we have produced almost a disaster. Remember, in 2019, the court disqualified those who contested in Zamfara State, even after we won the election, it was nullified. Remember, the recent one in 2020 in Bayelsa State, where you have a situation whereby on the eve of inauguration, his election was nullified. Sincerely speaking, my appeal to our leaders is that we must see this opportunity as one to go back on negotiation.
Do you think with the experience of President Bola Tinubu right from the AD, AC, ACN, and down to the APC, he can make a difference? And if he does, where does he start to enthrone internal democracy in the party?
I am very confident that President Bola Tinubu can make a difference. But he needs to be strengthened because what the leaders of the party need to demonstrate or support in terms of the direction is where he should be going. But unfortunately, when leaders sit back and all they want is business as usual, we end up like nothing. That was what happened in the case of President Muhammadu Buhari, where we ended up rationalising all the steps he took, whether they were right or wrong. We turn out weak in engaging him because, largely, this is where the problem is. Most leaders intend to become appointees. The inability to take risks and to engage the President, for instance, in terms of getting him to make the right decisions.
What would you liken the Second Republic parties to in the present scenario?
There is a case whereby, I think, it was during the Second Republic during the NPN days, where the late president, Alhaji Shehu Shagari, was quoted to have talked about a leader from North-West who didn’t vote for him during the party’s primary, in other to ensure that he surrounds himself with people who can tell him to do the right thing.
At that time, party leaders and officials would sit at a roundtable to discuss, but the reverse is the case now. What has changed?
For me, this is where I believe President Tinubu is different, and why some of us are very vocal. We believe he stands a very good opportunity to write his name in the sands of the history of democratic principles by correcting several things and anomalies. Because of some of the problems of discipline, whereby you have elected a representative to in the last segment. None of the Second Republic parties would allow what is going on today, like in the case of Yahaya Bello. For me, this is where I have been reading the point of APC coming up with a kind of code of conduct for elected representatives and leaders of the party. Leadership is about trust, it is a mandate that the party expects you to handle. Now, a situation where we talk about all of the things and just look the other way around. Take a look at what is happening in other states where the current serving governors make you rubbish their predecessors.
Like what is happening in your state, Kaduna. How is it?
It is almost happening in all the states and everywhere. Somehow, it is largely because of the mismanagement of political relationships, and somehow because the main focus is on rigging elections. What happens is that, in between elections, things are being subordinated to not being considered. Sincerely speaking, my appeal to the APC leaders is that it is encouraging that we are debating these issues. My appeal is that we must not limit what we do today just to the question of changing Dr Umar Ganduje as the national chairman of the party.
What do you think is the way out?
We must renegotiate. We must create a new framework rather than pretend. We want collective leadership, a kind of partnership whereby leaders of the party relate with each other on an equal basis at all levels. It is not that we don’t have structures that will facilitate that. We do. If you look at our national caucus and state caucus, that is what they are designed to achieve. But again, we have mismanaged ourselves. We are not even talking about the pre-2015 general election, I can tell you that our national caucus was meeting almost weekly. But part of the tragedy that has happened was that immediately after the electoral victory of 2015, the national caucus stopped meeting.
How do you hope that the national chairman of the party is being dragged by state governors over issues of allegations of fraud when he was in office? How do you think the party can handle it?
Unfortunately, we are talking about these things. My honest recommendation will be that we must push Abdullahi Ganduje to renegotiate the relationship back in his state.
Do you think this is political?
Yes, it is political. If you don’t approach it politically, you cannot take it away. You can replace Ganduje and if the capacity to get leaders to do the needful back to the party is not addressed, it will continue to hunt us.
Do you think it is the relationship between him and Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso?
No more, no less.
How can that be resolved?
I have said it over and over again. For me, it was an avoidable crisis which ordinarily the party didn’t handle well. When for instance Kwankwaso was still in the party, and Ganduje was the governor of Kano State. Don’t forget these are leaders who have been together for years. They stayed together as governor and deputy governor for eight years. Even four years ago when they were out of office, they were together. When Kwankwaso was the minister they were still together. So, honestly, I think somehow unless we prioritise issues, if we get political leaders of the party to manage relationships, we will continue to have all these things. Remember, we have had the same thing in Ogun State. I can count how many states we have had leadership problems, which we have mismanaged as a party.
If Ganduje is being dragged into Kano, APC may not have peace. What is the way out?
That is it.
What is the exit strategy?
As I said, for me, we must accept that things are not alright, even within the APC. Even Ganduje matters in Kano. The reality is that as it is, we have problems that require us to come back to rebuild our party. Rebuilding our party is about recruiting new members, and reorganising the leadership. For me, we need to open up in such a way that we negotiate. The ambition of Senator Kwankwaso is to become President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Where he is today, I can confidently say it will be almost like a mirage for him to become President.
Really?
It will take years of building and negotiation across the country which may outlive his lifespan. And if we are to fast-track it, and open our party for him to come back in such a way that he will have to negotiate his relationship with Ganduje. Across the states, he will also renegotiate relationships between leaders and bring everybody together. Nigerians are even likely to have more confidence in the party.
