Uduegbunam ChukwujamaFew days after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Ahmed Tinubu, winner of the controverted 2023 Presidential Election, trouble looms in the ruling party.
Prime Business Africa gathered that although the ruling party is still facing challenges of defending its victory through the President-elect Tinubu, leaders are already jostling for positions in the incoming administration and for National Assembly leadership. This has forced one of the APC stalwarts, Salihu Moh. Lukman to call for resignation of the Chairman, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, and Secretary Iyiola Omisore.
Our correspondent in Abuja reports that Lukman’s seeming lone voice actually re-echoes the opinion of “strong forces within the ruling party as well as their underlying horse-trading for political control post-Muhammadu Buhari administration.”
Lukman, who has been an outspoken member of the APC, argued in an article that was first published in Prime Business Africa on Friday March 10, 2023, that the Party needed to open the space and begin the process of healing internally and externally.
He alleged that, even after winning one of the most controversial elections in Nigeria’s history, some influential leaders of the ruling APC are still carrying on in pursuit of their narrow interests.
“As a party, we must consciously avoid any mistake that could be used by our political adversaries to suggest insensitivity to the inclusion of all Nigerians. APC leadership must take steps to regulate the aspirations of individual leaders to positions in the next Federal Government. Some positions, for instance must be deliberately locked to sections and groups in the country.”
Making reference to the internal wranglings in the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Lukman, in his PBA article, advised APC to replace the Chairman, Senator Adamu, with a Christian from the North Central to correct and cure the party of allegations of deliberately making itself top-heavy with Muslims. He, however, did not provide any hint on who should replace Secretary Omisore who is from Osun State.
According to him, Omisore has been a negative influence on the party, the reason it lost the 2022 governorship election to a relatively weaker candidate in Osun State.
Our Correspondent also gathered reliably that plans are underway to either lock in the position of Party Secretary for Ondo State, where the current National Vice Chairman (South West) is in reckoning, or at best return it to Southeast where it was originally zoned by the Party.
READ ALSO: Poll: We All Worked For Tinubu’s Victory – APC Chairman, Adamu
Meanwhile, sources within the APC told PBA that Lukman’s call for the Chairman and Secretary to resign is a foretaste of what is to come, as plans are already underway to ensure the emergence of former Benue State Governor, Senator George Akume, in the event of Adamu’s resignation.
What Lukman is Saying about zoning offices based on ethnicity and religion:
“Some specific recommendations may be necessary at this point. The offices of Senate President and Speaker House of Representatives would have to be locked. Given that the President and Vice President are from South-West and North-East respectively, nobody from either of these two regions should aspire for any of these offices. Opportunist may argue that in the last four years, the South-West also produced the Vice President and Speaker of House of Representatives. We must correct this kind of lop-sided reality as a strategic approach to dousing ethnic and religious tension in the country. With a National Chairman from the North-Central and hopefully a Christian, the North-Central too should also be excluded from aspiring for either the position of Senate President or Speaker of the House of Representatives.
“Accordingly, the positions of Senate President and Speaker House of Representatives should be zoned to North-West, South-East or South-South. With a Muslim President and a Muslim Vice President, it is only logical to zone the Senate President who is the number three ranking leader of government to either the South-East or South-South who would be Christian. Logically, the position of Speaker of the House of Representatives should be zoned to the North-West. This would have the advantage of acknowledging that the North-West gave Asiwaju Tinubu the highest votes of 2,950,393 representing 33.6% of the votes he won. All other positions in government can be assigned by taking bearing from that.
“While it may be important to consider including the position of Secretary to Government Federation (SGF) as part of positions to be zoned, Asiwaju Tinubu must avoid the mistake of undermining his government by appointing politicians with zero experience in managing public service institutions to serve as SGF. The office of SGF is in fact the brainbox of government and once a wrong person is appointed into such a position, the delivery capacity of government will be weak. Therefore, the choice of where the SGF will come from is as important as the qualification and public service experience of any person to be considered.
What Tinubu Must Do, According to Lukman:
“Achieving all these would require institutionalised consultations and negotiations involving structures of the party. Asiwaju Tinubu as the new leader of APC should challenge party leadership to make all structures of the party functional in line with provisions of the constitution of the party. A situation whereby key decisions including issues of zoning are handled outside the constitutional structures of the party is unhealthy, unsustainably, and challengeable. APC need to recognise that the Muslim-Muslim ticket it provided for the 2023 Presidential election, if not managed to produce desired outcome of inclusivity to broaden the foundation for wider participations of Nigerians in politics and governance across all divides, could further widen the division among Nigerians, which should be avoided. A successfully well-managed Muslim-Muslim would make a Christian-Christian ticket viably possible. For instance, if a Christian Northerner is to emerge as a candidate for a Presidential contest, the choice of a Southern Christian as running mate should be a viable consideration for a potential electoral victory.
“Finally, President Muhammadu Buhari’s government for eight operated based on the philosophy of “I belong to everybody and I belong to nobody”. As a result, APC leaders and members had to leave with the reality of producing a government in which they have little or no influence.
Many Federal Government appointees inherited from PDP were retained. For instance, Mr. Godwin Emefiele is one of the appointees of Federal Government inherited from PDP in 2015 but retained till the end of President Buhari’s tenure. Similarly, processes of appointments into government positions were handled without consulting party leaders. Consequently, many appointees of government were hardly accountable to the APC and its leadership. An Asiwaju Tinubu led Federal Government must avoid the mistakes of President Muhammadu Buhari administration while building on its strength.”
READ ALSO: APC Internal Dynamics And The Future Of Democracy
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