Stop throwing banters at PDP, focus on rebuilding party – Lukman charges APC Caretaker Committee

By Tunde Opalana

A chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) Dr. Salihu Lukman, has cautioned the party’s Caretaker Committee to judiciously expend the remaining six months of its tenure in processes that will lead to rebuilding the party rather than dedicating time to exchanging words with the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on almost every issue, Daily Times gathered.

Lukman who is the Director General of the Progressive Governors Forum (PGF) admonished the Gov. Mai Mala Buni – led Caretaker/ Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee to continue activating plans and processes towards building virile internal consensus capable of producing consensus Presidential candidate who will extend the APC governance beyond the  2023 general elections.

He made this known in Sunday in a statement made available to newsmen in Abuja. The said statement titled “Seductiveness of Conventional Politics and the Challenges facing APC” written in honour of late Sam Nda Isaiah, the Leadership Newspaper Publisher, represents his personal opinion and not of the PGF or any governor of the party.

While appealing to Give Buni to redesign the approach of the APC national secretariat to issues, Lukman called for more consultations, coordination and better communications of initiatives in the internal reform process, while stressing that there is the need to take every step necessary to ensure that the reform going on strengthen internal democracy within the party.

He said “a major issue will be the capacity of structures of the party, especially the National Secretariat, to serve as the coordinating hub for the implementation of decisions of the party. One of the major challenge of politics is that it hardly recognise the value of professionalism.

“Often, the extend to which professionalism is sacrificed narrow the scope of reform and quickens the resurgence of conventional politics. In other words, the whole business of reforming the party will be reduced to throwing up sections of the party’s leadership as candidates for general elections. This is already being speculated by sections of the APC leadership opposed to the reform going on.

“To achieve this will require that members of His Excellency Mai Mala Buni-led Caretaker Committee are taking the necessary steps to strengthen the capacity of the APC National Secretariat to implement all decisions. This is largely about taking responsibility and communicating decisions to party members and the public.

“The solution to all these lies in the ability of the 13-member Caretaker Committee to work harmoniously with the required professional competence. The Secretary of the Caretaker Committee should be able to facilitate the process of planning and one of the 13 members should be able to lead the process of members’ and public mobilisation.

“Therefore, instead of some of the dry press releases throwing banters at PDP leaders who are struggling to bounce back to pollical reckoning, the messages from the Caretaker Committee and the party should be about rebuilding the party.

“Our leaders, especially the Caretaker Committee should bear in mind constantly the message of Obama in his Memoir, that “It was the nature of democracies to swing between periods of progressive changes and conservative retrenchment.” The swing to conservativism may be produced from within the party.

“The goal of reform therefore is to ensure that the party is fortified as the bearer of democratic values and progressive politics. This is the critical success factor for enduring reform that should come with commitment to democratic values and rule of law, which is not limited to preservation of power”.

The Director General warned party chieftains against desperation in attaining positions at the coming national convention.

“The process of membership registration/revalidation is expected to be followed immediately by processes of leadership formation at all levels. From all the internal debates so far, one of the underlying objectives is to resolve the challenge of electing new party leaders in the same year when general elections are to take place.

“Electing party leaders in the same year when candidates for general elections are to emerge only re-enforce the desperation of aspiring politicians to control structures of the party.

“With all the rebuilding process expected to end in June 2021, it then means that APC can have almost two years before the 2023 general elections to negotiate landmark political challenges and possibly produce some internal consensus, which should be able to throw up credible candidate for the 2023 general elections at all levels”, he said.

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