Emergence Of Ganduje As APC National Chairman Violates Constitution – Lukman

A former national vice chairman, North West of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Salihu Mohammed Lukman, says the distribution of leadership positions within the party is grossly unbalanced.

The party chieftain maintained that having Abdullahi Ganduje as the party’s national chairman is a violation of the APC constitution.

According to him, the North Central zone is being sidelined in the leadership positions of the party.

Lukman said to correct the constitutional abnormality, the the Deputy Senate President position should be given to the North Central, and taken from Kano in North West where the current holder of the position, Senator Barau Jubrin, hails from.

He made his view known in a letter dated April 2, 2024, addressed to the national chairman of the party, Abdullahi Ganduje, which was made available to newsmen on Wednesday.

In his words, “It is my hope everything will be done to speed up restoring Constitutional order in APC. It is also my hope that meetings of organs of the party, especially NEC will take place very soon and the meetings will review the situation facing the party and address the challenges, including rectifying the issue whereby the leadership of the country is skewed against the people of North Central.

“It is unacceptable that a party envisioned to be progressive will produce unbalanced leadership for the country. It is objectionable that an envisioned progressive party will discriminate against members simply because they are critical of initiatives of leaders or lack of it.

“Be that as it may, we will continue to make our modest contributions to the process of party development. We will remain defiant of all act of discriminations in every form it is carried out against party members.

“Specifically, I recommended that the position of Deputy Senate President, currently being held by Senator Barau Jibrin, who is from Kano State where you come from should be relinquished to someone from North Central. There is no reason why the North West should hold three key leadership positions of National Chairman of APC, Speaker of the House of Representatives and Deputy Senate President when North Central is completely shut out. If any of the three positions is to be sacrificed, the position of Deputy Senate President currently being held by Sen. Barau, who is from Kano State where the National Chairman come from, should be the one to be sacrificed.”

Lukman further called on President Bola Tinubu and the party’s leadership to take steps to correct what he described as abnormal leadership in the party.

According to him, he had always opposed Ganduje’s emergence as the national chairman of the APC and had hoped the former Kano State Governor would take steps to remedy the situation.

The letter further read, “I am compelled to once more appeal to you to kindly justify the confidence of President Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu on your leadership capacity to move our great party, APC, forward. Moving APC forward, as it is, is largely a function of restoring constitutional order, based on which the prospect of returning the party to its founding vision of becoming a progressive party can be achieved. To achieve that, my letter of August 27, 2023 presented nine (9) demands, which were carryover from demands made to Sen. Abdullahi Adamu when he was National Chairman. A copy of the August 27, 2023 letter is hereby attached for ease of reference.

“You may wish to recall that I opposed your nomination to become the National Chairman largely because the position has been zoned to Nasarawa State from North Central. Article 31.5(i) of the APC clearly directed that when there is vacancy in the case of National/Zonal Officer, the State Executive Committee shall propose a replacement to the State Congress and Zonal Executive Committee for endorsement. Thereafter, the name shall be forwarded to the National Working Committee, which shall be forwarded to the National Executive Committee for approval. Given this provision, Nasarawa State would have nominated replacement of Sen. Adamu, and not Kano State where you come from. Till today, I stand by my position that your emergence as National Chairman is a violation of this provision of the APC Constitution.

“Notwithstanding that your emergence represent a violation of APC Constitution, being a decision of NEC, I respect it and hoped that you will introduce initiatives that will help cure the malady, which further erode the progressive credentials of the APC. Beyond violation of the APC Constitution, your emergence as APC National Chairman, created problem of injustice to the people of North Central as they were completely shut out of representation in key leadership positions in the country. To rectify that, in my letter under reference, I recommended that, being the National Chairman, you can initiate measures to both heal and pacify the people of North Central.

“Sincerely, having emerged as the National Chairman against every rational consideration, my candid expectation is that you will justify your emergence by ensuring that you, at the minimum, you restore Constitutional order in the party.