APC has failed to keep campaign promises to Nigerians, lost founding vision – Former party official

A former National Vice Chairman (North-West) of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Salihu Lukman, said on Monday that the party has fallen short of all key promises it made to Nigerians while campaigning for office in 2015.

“I admit that in terms of meeting up with our campaign promises, we have done badly, no doubt about it,” Mr Lukman, who resigned from the party less than a week ago, said on Arise Television’s Morning Show. “Issues of security, issues of economy and issues of fighting corruption, we have done badly.”

APC’s National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, has yet to respond to PREMIUM TIMES’ request for his comments since Tuesday. He did not answer further phone calls or respond to a text message sent to him after receiving the video clip of Mr Lukman’s interview, which he requested from our reporter to be sure of what to react to.

Mr Lukman announced his resignation from the APC on 12 June, citing a lack of internal democracy and the inability of the party’s leadership to allow reforms.

His resignation from the party was the climax of his displeasure with the running of the party, which he has accused at various times of deviating from its founding ideals.

Earlier in July 2023, Mr Lukman resigned as a member of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party in protest against what he described as the party’s departure from the “founding vision of forming a progressive party.”

At the time, he said he would remain in the party.

But the stance changed about a year later when he resigned his membership last Wednesday.

He said he planned to return “to the trenches and will try to work with all committed Nigerians who agree and subscribe to the goal of actively campaigning for the survival and development of democracy in Nigeria.”

He has yet to announce that he will be joining a new party.

‘No new approach’

Fielding questions on Arise Television on Monday, he said the APC, which has now produced two presidents since 2015, has failed to introduce a new approach to governance as it promised.

“From 2015, when PDP was defeated, there are no new initiatives that you can point out to say as a party that came to change the reality of our politics. We have promised to do things differently to meet the expectations of Nigerians. Instead, we have actually regressed, let’s be honest about it,” he said.

The party, formed from the merger of key opposition parties in 2013, won its first presidential election in 2015, with its candidate, a former military dictator, Muhammadu Buhari, defeating the incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Mr Buhari won re-election on the APC platform in 2019.

The party won its third presidential election in a row, with its candidate, President Bola Tinubu, emerging victorious in the 2023 election.

Mr Tinubu, who has been in office for one year, inherited a shaky economy and insecurity challenges from the Buhari administration.

Mr Buhari, who campaigned for office in 2015 promising to fight corruption, build the economy and bolster security, is believed to have failed as Nigeria’s president.

The economy and security have not fared better since the Tinubu-led APC government came on board last year.

‘Vision lost’

Mr Lukman said the APC is now a mere legal entity that has lost its vision. He said, like other political parties in Nigeria, APC is no longer more than a tool for winning elections.

He recalled that the party was created to be different and as a robust alternative to the ruling PDP.

“As it is today, the party is only a legal entity. The function that it is supposed to exercise as a political party by way of aggregating interests and opinions has been sacrificed completely…frankly speaking, this is part of my pain,” he said.

“Our vision is that it should represent a stronger capacity for governments elected to respond to the challenges and problems of the nation. Unfortunately, what we have is practically business as usual.”

Non-conformist Lukman

The trade unionist turned politician was part of the struggle to actualise the 12 June 1993 mandate of the late M.K.O Abiola.

A non-conformist figure within the APC and its vocal critic, Mr Lukman criticised the leadership of Adams Oshiomhole of the party before it was controversially dismissed in June 2020.

In January 2022, he resigned as the director-general of the Progressive Governors’ Forum (PGF), an umbrella body of all APC governors.

He resigned as the PGF’s director-general when he was critical of the Yobe State Governor Mala Buni-led interim leadership of the APC and his elongated tenure in office.

He also opposed the appointment of the party’s current chairperson, Abdullahi Ganduje.

‘Buhari, Tinubu failed to build APC’

Mr Lukman blamed the failures of the party on the crippling of its structures, which, he said, started under Mr Buhari as Nigeria’s president and leader of the party.

“Former President Buhari wasn’t a visionary leader…All the challenges we faced as a party started with him, the demobilisation of the structures of the party,” he said.

A top APC member, Kayode Fayemi, who is a Buhari-era Minister of Solid Minerals Development and former Ekiti State Governor, shared a similar view in a Channels Television interview on Friday of how the party has been unable to hold the governments it helped to install accountable due to the crumbling of its internal organs.

During the live television interview, Mr Fayemi also faulted the implementation of Mr Tinubu’s economic policies.

Shedding more light on why he eventually left the APC, Mr Lukman said Monday that his expectation that Mr Tinubu would build the party was dashed.

“My problem started largely with the high expectation I have of President Asiwaju,” he said. “I supported President Asiwaju (Tinubu) with the belief that being a seasoned politician and somebody who is associated with progressive tradition. That is why we were ready to give ourselves and fight the leadership of President Buhari in terms of blocking who succeeds him.

“My expectation was that President Asiwaju would prioritise building the party and would be much more democratic, allowing internal debate and contestation. Unfortunately, that is not happening.”