APC North-West Chairman Speaks On Working For Obi

Salihu Lukman, the North-West Zonal Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), denied working for Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi on Sunday.

Anyone who believes Lukman abandoned his responsibility in the ruling party to support Obi is mistaken, according to Lukman.

This was stated by the APC chieftain in a statement titled ‘Fallacious Politics of 2023,’ which was released through his media aide.

The statement was issued just hours after Naja’atu Muhammad, a Director in the Tinubu-Shettima presidential campaign council, left the party.

In his reaction, Lukman denied abandoning the ruling party in favor of Obi.

He said;

A close friend and comrade recently asked me if I am Obedient, suggesting that I am supporting Mr Peter Obi. To say the least, I was very dismayed that anyone could imagine I would support any candidate other than Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. I may excuse any person if he is meeting me for the first time. Having come a long way both as activists and learners of politics since my student days in the 1980s, our commitment to politics and the development of Nigeria was informed by a clear vision to build a society founded on equality and justice.

Partly because scholarship is very poor today in Nigeria, there are many so-called Obidient supporters who promote outright falsehood and politics of hate against other candidates and their supporters. This is unfortunately self-defeatist.

As a member of the APC, I want to campaign for all our candidates while at the same time respecting our opposition. People are free to make their choices and we should respect that. Once the element of respect is removed from the politics of choices of candidates, then democracy risks being downgraded to the level of anarchy. The temptation to indulge in politics of disrespect could be linked to the apparent lack of confidence in winning the election.

With reference to the so-called Obidients, as much as we respect their choice, we also must appeal to them to honestly recognise the shortcomings of Obi as a politician and the Labour Party as a political party. Recognising these shortcomings will be important in convincing Nigerians that they are engaging in the contest also as a strategy to reform both the person of Obi and the organisation of the LP as a political party. In terms of the person of Obi, so far, his characteristics are that of a typical Nigerian politician who is more of an election merchant presenting himself every four years for election, even if it means changing political party.

Being an election merchant connotes an obvious lack of commitment and discipline to be loyal to any political party. This partly explains why Obi moved from All Progressive Grand Alliance to the Peoples Democratic Party and now the LP between 2015 and now. What is the guarantee that his candidature of the LP also bears a commitment to develop the party and get it to overcome all its challenges. Noting that it is public knowledge that the LP has been embroiled in a leadership crisis, how is Obi using his campaign to negotiate the resolution of the LP crisis? From a distant point of view, Obi is in fact indifferent to the crisis facing the LP.

Out of all the leading candidates, the only one that has never left his party to any party is Tinubu. He is the only one that has been a national political leader since he left office as the Governor of Lagos State in 2007 and that is presenting himself for the first time as a presidential candidate for the 2023 elections. In addition, he is the only contestant who together with other leaders of the APC envisioned the political roadmap for the defeat of the PDP.

The candidature of Asiwaju, therefore, represents the hope for the emergence of accountable leaders. To have accountable leaders require the presence of political parties with accountable management as provided in their rules.

Many of us in the APC are supporting Asiwaju as part of our ongoing campaign to continue to build the APC as a progressive party, capable of producing accountable elected representatives at all levels. We do so with full confidence that Asiwaju will build on the legacy of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari( retd.), which also includes respecting internal debate and contestation within the APC. The APC is the only party today in Nigeria that permits internal debate and contestations.