Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja
A group, the All Progressives Congress (APC) Rebirth Group, has berated the governors elected on the platform of the party for allegedly forcing the former Director-General of the Progressive Governors’ Forum (PGF), Dr. Salihu Lukman, to resign from his position.
Lukman’s resignation may not be unconnected to his recent call for the resignation of members of the Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) of the party if they refused to conduct the party’s convention in February this year.
But the spokesperson of the group, Mr. Aliyu Audu, while reacting to the development in a statement issued yesterday, said there was nothing progressive about the action of the ‘progressive’ governors.
The group said: “Our disappointment is in the fact that a party that prides itself as a progressive party, more so governors elected on its platform, would be so intolerant to opinions that are not in agreement with their desires.
“We are, however, not in the least surprised. When we started our campaign for the rebirth of the party as a way to address the obvious nosedive occasioned by the way past and current handlers were managing affairs, we were not only barred from using the party secretariat for any of our activities, members of the group were barred from entering the secretariat.”
The APC group noted that while it hailed Lukman for his decision to tender his resignation, it said it was not unaware of the fact that APC governors at their meeting last Sunday orchestrated the resignation over his position on the state of affairs of the APC and particularly his calls for the conduct of the national convention which was long overdue.
It said Lukman shares a deep concern about the state of affairs of the party, just like the APC Rebirth.
According to the group, “Not only has he courageously and consistently identified the problems, he has made far reaching recommendations on how best to navigate the booby traps set before the party, but rather than heed his calls, the governors of the APC mounted pressure on him to throw in the towel. It is illogical that the attempt to stifle freedom of expression is being promoted by elected executives in a democracy, more so in a party that is said to be progressive.”
Having resigned from his position, the group stressed that Lukman is now at liberty, more than ever before, to continue his constructive engagement on behalf of millions of APC members who count on the bravery and fair mindedness of people like him.
It pointed out that the governors and leaders of the party on the other hand have exposed their lack of principle as progressives, their inability to embrace opposing views or even the capacity to make substance from them.
