The immediate past National Vice Chairman, North-west of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Malam Salihu Lukman, has called increased accountability for the ruling party to function as a stronger political party.
Lukman, in a piece titled “Reinventing Progressive Politics in Nigeria” Thursday in Abuja, said the emergence of APC raised the hopes of Nigerians about potentials for change, adding that part of what justified the confidence of Nigerians that APC will produce a paradigm shift in Nigerian politics and governance was that the internal debate within the party during the merger negotiations aggregated national debate.
According to the former Director General of the Progressives Governors Forum (PGF), decisions taken by leaders of the party, at least up to 2015 when the party won the General Elections and formed the Federal Government under the leadership of former President Muhammadu Buhari could be adjudged to be representative of the wider interests of Nigerians.
While faulting inability to hold meetings of organs of the party, Lukman said: “Up to June 9, 2015 when the 8th National Assembly was inaugurated no meeting of any organ of the party hold. No decision was taken by any organ of the party in terms of influencing the emergence of leaders of the 8th National Assembly, which made it possible for the rebellious groups led by Sen. Saraki and Hon. Dogara to defeat the preferred candidates of APC leaders.
“Responsibilities such as the requirement for the NWC to develop electoral guidelines for the emergence of leaders of the 8th NASS in line with provisions of Article 13.4(vi) of APC Constitution was simply abandoned and progressively, the APC became a passive observer to activities of Governments it produced.
“Being a passive observer weakened or inhibited the potentials of the APC and its governments to ‘develop and promote economic policies that guarantee public participation in and, where necessary, control of the major means of production, distribution and exchange’ in line with the aims and objectives of the party as contained in Article 7 of the APC Constitution.
“With the President becoming an imperial leader whose decisions are unquestionable, management of governments produced by the APC was limited to his (President) personal discretion. Unfortunately, with the best of intentions, often, the decisions of the President fall short of public expectations. In fact, capacity to resolve national challenges such as rising insecurity in the country as contained in the APC manifesto and campaign promises became problematic.”
Lukman said APC has demobilised itself from being a progressive political party, saying many leaders of the party who would have enforce accountability, and to that extent therefore ensured that the party prioritises delivery of its campaign promises based on provisions of the APC’s manifesto have abdicated responsibility by making themselves candidates for appointments into government.
“Given all the political realities confronting the APC and its leadership, and especially against the backdrop of falling short of meeting public expectations and delivering on campaign promises in the last nine years, it is important that President Asiwaju Tinubu can push APC leaders to initiate processes of renegotiating the party.
Renegotiating the APC should be about reinventing progressive politics in the country based on the acknowledgment that what we have in APC today is anything but progressive politics. It must be recognised that although in the beginning in 2013, APC presented a strong potential of becoming a progressive party, unfortunately, all that has been lost.
Being privileged to have President Asiwaju Tinubu should translate to an advantage to reform the APC to become a truly progressive party.
“It will require the capacity to put in place the orientation of equal partnership in APC for the party to return to its founding vision of becoming a progressive party. It is only through equal partnership that the APC can reinvent progressive politics in Nigeria based on which issues of accountability and being responsive and representative to the interest of Nigerians can be stronger.”