You’ve Dashed Nigerians’ Expectations, Ex-APC Vice Chair Tells Tinubu

• Former APC official Lukman criticizes Tinubu’s ministerial selection and “disturbing signals,” including Muslim-Muslim appointments and policy issues
• He expresses disappointment and raises concerns about the impact on Tinubu’s “Renewed Hope” agenda in an open letter

Salihu Mohammed Lukman, the immediate-past national vice chairman (North-West) of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has expressed disappointment with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s choice of ministers, saying he has dashed Nigerians’ hopes.

Apart from the selection of ministers, Lukman also listed what he called “disturbing signals” during the Tinubu administration’s tenure.

The APC chieftain accused Tinubu of imposing another Muslim-Muslim scenario on the party after winning the February 25 election on a same-faith ticket in an open letter to the President titled “Disturbing Signals: Open Letter to President Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.”

He outlined the “disturbing signals,” which included, among other things, the current exchange rate (dollar to naira), fuel pump price, and his choice of ministers.

He stated that the endorsement of the party’s new national chairman, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, and national secretary, Ajibola Bashiru, both Muslims, was troubling, causing tension among party members and other Nigerians.

He questioned why, after Basiru of Osun State replaced Iyiola Omisore, who resigned as national secretary from the same state, Tinubu refused to allow a former governor of Nasarawa State, Umaru Tanko Al-Makura, who is one of the president’s key loyalists, or any other APC chieftain from Nasarawa State to replace Adamu, instead opting for another Muslim-Muslim “ticket.”

The former APC vice chairman criticized the criteria for ministerial appointment, saying the developments could stymie Tinubu’s “Renewed Hope” agenda.

Lukman states:

Your Excellency, I find it very compelling to send this open letter to you because there are disturbing signals, which if not averted could produce bigger problems and irreversibly destroy our electoral viability as a party.

Without attempting to question your authority and commitment to the wellbeing of Nigeria as a nation, within the short period since May 29, 2023 when you assumed office, there are decisions you took, which are very disturbing to many of us who are loyal party members.

Rather than even attempting to respond to that challenge and demonstrate that truly we only invoked 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.

And we want to claim we are a progressive party? What is the brand of our progressive politics? Certainly, not the one which Nigerians expect, which endears us to citizens on account of which Nigerians gave us the mandate to manage the affairs of government since 2015. As it is, both as party members and as Nigerians, our expectation from your government has crashed.