Lukman: With Ganduje as APC Chair, Tinubu Weakly Committed to Anti-graft WarTinubuLukman: With Ganduje as APC Chair, Tinubu Weakly Committed to Anti-graft War

•Describes choice of ministerial nominees as disappointment

•Ex-Kano governor urges lawmakers to work with successor

Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja

Former National Vice Chairman, North-west, of All Progressives Congress (APC), Dr. Salihu Lukman, has said the emergence of the immediate past governor Kano State, Dr. Abdulahi Ganduje, as the party’s national chairman sent a disturbing signal that President Bola Tinubu was only faintly committed to fighting corruption.

In a statement yesterday, titled, “Disturbing Signals: Open Letter to President Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu,” Lukman said he was compelled to point out the disturbing signals, which, if not averted, could produce bigger problems and irreversibly destroy the electoral viability of APC.

He also described the choice of Tinubu’s ministerial nominees as a disappointment.

The letter came as Ganduje charged APC members in the state House of Assembly to work with his successor, Governor Abba Yusuf, for the development of the state.

Lukman noted in the letter that without attempting to question Tinubu’s authority, there were decisions the president took that were disturbing to many loyal party members.

Lukman stated, in the letter to Tinubu, “To be honest, making Dr. Ganduje National Chairman of APC is the first disturbing signal. Many party members are yet to recover from that shock.

“With all the uncleared corruption allegation against Dr. Ganduje, you opted to nominate him to become the national chairman of the party even, when Article 31.5(i) of the constitution of APC clearly gave Nasarawa State Executive Committee the power to nominate who should replace Sen. Abdullahi Adamu.

“Given that Sen. Umaru Tanko Al-Makura is from Nasarawa State, and he has been very loyal to you, it was scandalous that you will opt for Dr. Ganduje with all the baggage of corruption allegations against him.”

Lukman recalled that before the March 2022 APC national convention, Al-Makura aspired to become APC National Chairman, but then President Muhammadu Buhari was influenced to nominate Adamu over Al-Makura, partly because he was alleged to be loyal to Tinubu.

He said it defied every logical reasoning that Tinubu would ignore the provisions of Article 31.5(i) to nominate Ganduje, even when the same provision of the constitution was used to nominate Senator Basiru Ajibola from Osun State as replacement for Senator Iyiola Omisore.

“The emergence of Dr. Ganduje as National Chairman of APC sent the disturbing signal of being weakly committed to fighting corruption,” Lukman stated.

He said, that APC leaders accepted the emergence of Ganduje without much resistance produced the second disturbing signal. He alleged that the absence of resistance was more a reflection of fear, which was the new reality in APC.

Lukman stated, “Once leaders and members of APC continue to feel threatened that when they express opposition against your decision, we may end up with the bigger danger of creating a police state.

“Largely because of the atmosphere of fear surrounding the emergence of Dr. Ganduje as National Chairman, the wider debate of using the vacancies created to respond to the challenge of inclusivity given that we won the 2023 election with a Muslim-Muslim ticket was lost.

“Rather than even attempting to respond to that challenge and demonstrate that truly we only invoke the Muslim-Muslim ticket as an electoral strategy, in a very insensitive manner we imposed another Muslim-Muslim scenario in the party with National Chairman and National Secretary both Muslims.”

Lukman, who described the ministerial nominees of Tinubu as a complete disappointment, said it was another noteworthy warning signal.

He said in the letter to the president, “The third disturbing signal is the quality of your appointees. Sincerely, Your Excellency, throughout the 2023 electoral campaigns, one of the strong campaign points was that you know how to find talents. When it took you more than eight weeks to nominate your ministers, the belief was that you are taking your time to identify indisputably proficient people.

“With due respect to all those you nominated, many party members and, by extension, Nigerians were disappointed. It is clear to any discerning mind that political consideration eclipsed any other factor, definitely no argument about talent can be sustained. As it is, both as party members and as Nigerians, our expectation from your government has crashed.”

The party chieftain noted that while the removal of subsidy was commendable, the fact that Nigerians were still waiting to know what the agenda of government was with respect to managing the downstream oil sector beyond saving the amount of money that used to be expended on subsidy payments, was beyond comprehension

He said, “The second issue related to management of policy initiatives is the exchange rate of the Naira. Some of us expect that decisions around exchange rate will be integral part of broader economic policy of government. Now, it would appear that isolated decision has been taken to float the naira without any clear economic policy.

“The consequence is that the naira is on a downward swing. Combined with rising cost of transport as a result of withdrawal of subsidy, the inflationary pressure on the economy is very high. As a result, living conditions are getting worse. At this rate, poverty incidence will be terribly high, beyond any rational expectations.”

Ganduje Urges Kano APC Lawmakers to Work with Governor

National Chairman of APC, Abdulahi Ganduje, urged APC members of the Kano State House of Assembly to work with Governor Abba Yusuf for the development of the state. Ganduje gave the charge yesterday in Abuja, when 14 Kano Assembly APC members paid him a courtesy visit at the national secretariat of the party.

Ganduje said, “When I see most of you, I see myself because some of you, we were together 25 years ago. Some of you won elections and were assembly members and lost elections and returned after seven years. You have been in a cycle with me. So, I can call some of you veterans of democracy. I was not surprised when I learned you are here to see me on a congratulatory visit.”

Talking about the development of the state, he said, “The governor is of a different political party, but I want you to know that the whole essence of politics is the development of the people. I urge you, irrespective of the different political parties, to cooperate with the governor for the development of Kano State.

“That does not prevent you from maintaining your position as members of the state Assembly. It does not stop us from working together to have a government of APC in Kano State. What is most important is for the people of Kano State to get the dividends of democracy.

“I want you to work peacefully with the government in Kano State and I assure you that we will provide you with all encouragement so that we get more and more members of the state Assembly and also until we get a governor of our party.”