2023: APC Must Return To 2013 Model If It Wants To Win Elections – Lukman

The Director-General of the Progressives Governors’ Forum (PGF), Salihu Lukman has revealed what the All Progressives Congress (APC) must do to continue winning elections.

This is as he submitted that the party must be strategic in thinking and action if it wants to win the 2023 elections when the tenure of President Muhammadu Buhari expires.

He noted in a statement on Sunday that a major issue the APC must look at is the 2013 agreement which allowed the party to handle leadership negotiations skillfully and win the votes of Nigerians.

In his view, it was because the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) mismanaged political agreements that made the APC defeat them in 2015 and take over the country’s leadership.

Lukman added that the persons the APC would put forward as candidates must have the interest of Nigerians and the development of the country at heart.

According to him, “For those of us in APC, the process of re-organisation going on in the party presents an advantage. For instance, it should be possible to commence a campaign to review provisions of the APC manifesto to strengthen political initiatives for national unity,” he said.

“Will political leaders from all the six geo-political regions commit themselves to implementing agreements that can strengthen the bonds of unity among citizens from the six geo-political regions?

“What could be the details of such agreements? And to what extent could the agreements meet the expectations of citizens from all the six geo-political regions?

“Beyond which region produces the successor to President Buhari, what will be the commitment of the post-2023 Nigerian President to the specific agenda of regional developments of both the region he/she comes from and the other five regions?

“The reality of our contemporary development as a nation in this Fourth Republic, since 1999, is that during the sixteen years of PDP tenure, processes of respecting political agreements within the PDP have been mismanaged and undermined.

“With the emergence of our party, APC, in 2013, our leaders were able to skillfully handle negotiations for leadership based on strategic consideration of winning the votes of Nigerians.

“APC leaders must return to that 2013 mode and handle leadership negotiations for 2023 very carefully and skillfully. APC should continue to work towards setting the right standards for Nigerian politics, which should prioritise national unity.”

Meanwhile, former lawmaker, Senator Rufai Hanga, has narrated how President Muhammadu Buhari rejected a monetary donation from former Governor of Borno State, Ali Modu Sheriff, in 2007.

In an interview with Daily Trust, Hanga said Sherrif brought the money to the President on the eve of the 2007 presidential election.

Hanga said Sherrif, an in-law to Buhari, was the only governor who donated to the president’s bid but Buhari rejected the money.