The Director-General of the Progressives Governors Forum, Dr. Salihu Lukman, has asked the party’s hierarchy to perish the thought of negotiating the emergence of a presidential candidate outside the party structure.
He noted that the speculations that party leaders are pushing this agenda are already doing a lot of damage to the unity among party members.
Lukman said this in a statement titled, “APC and Struggle for New Nigeria’, made public in Abuja, on Sunday.
He said, “Part of the challenge of excessive politicization is that it also threatens internal unity of APC members and leaders. For instance, excessive politicization in the country is influencing the decision of some APC leaders to push negotiation for the emergence of the party’s presidential candidate for the 2023 elections outside the structures of the APC.
“This is now threatening the unity of leaders of APC. Around the whole question of power shift, some leaders of the APC have gone outside the structures of the party to mobilize support for the party to zone its presidential candidate for 2023 to the southern part of the country. In a worrisome way, the loose partnership is being contracted with a section of leaders from other opposition political parties, notably the PDP.”
He further said, “It is important that all APC leaders are reminded that the campaign for power shift is about writing or respecting the rules of our party. This should be handled within the structures of the APC.
“It is belittling for APC leaders who are statutory members of all the relevant structures of the party that are competent to take the final decision on the matter to go outside the structures of the party and forge a partnership with PDP leaders to compel a decision, one way or the other, on the matter. It simply means a loss of confidence in the structures of the party, which in this matter couldn’t have been the case.
“It is therefore important that a strong appeal is made to all APC leaders to develop more confidence to negotiate every matter, including the issue of power shift, within the structures of APC.“
