From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
Former National Chairman Northwest of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Salihu Moh Lukman, has passed a damning verdict on President Bola Tinubu, describing his one year administration as disastrous and visionless.
Lukman also claimed that from the challenges of the economy to problems of insecurity and corruption, APC’s three cardinal promises to Nigerians, the party’s nine-year administration had become worse than the 16 years of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), stressing that it had been a monumental failure.
The former Director General of APC Progressive Governors Forum (PGF) noted that he was in sync with the assessment of the performance of President Tinubu in the last one year since assumption of office as disastrous.
While lamenting that both President Tinubu and APC had failed Nigerians, he said that it was quite disheartening that a party, with all the promises of changing Nigeria for the better had ended up ruining the country.
He further argued that the ruling party, had become worse than the PDP, emphasising that unlike in the PDP days that allowed opposition parties to function, Nigeria political terrain is today confronted with the ugly and depressing reality whereby all the opposition parties are manipulated into deeper crisis of existential nature.
The statement he issued in Abuja on Saturday read: “To be fair to them, they all agree that the performance of President Tinubu in the last one year since his assumption of office has been disastrous. Unfortunately, their agreement fails short of making them to accept to work together towards building a common platform, capable of mobilising and uniting Nigerians towards defeating President Tinubu and APC in 2027.
“Their inability to commence proper political negotiations is emboldening President Tinubu to continue with his crazy impulsive visionless governance experiment, unperturbed with the harsh reality it has created for Nigerians. It is quite worrisome that notwithstanding the dangers before the nation, our key opposition leaders believe in business-as-usual approach to politics whereby the most important thing in politics is the management of their personal ambitions to become president.
“The opportunity that democratic system offers is that any government, which fails its citizens should be voted out. No doubt, by any standard, both President Tinubu and APC have failed Nigerians. It is quite disheartening that a party, which came with all the promises of changing Nigeria for the better has ended up ruining the country.
“From the economy to problems of insecurity and corruption, which were the three cardinal challenges APC and former President Muhammadu Buhari promised to tackle in 2015, what we had in 2015 is a child’s play today.
“If with all the trust Nigerians invested in former President Buhari and President Tinubu ended up producing the disastrous outcome of today’s reality whereby across all shades and divides, we are faced with the current existential crisis, why should any leader be trusted?
“The hard truth is that both former President Buhari and President Tinubu have turned out to be self-centred and unable to produce the needed leadership to pull the country out its current challenges. Certainly, all of us who were actively in support of these leaders never imagined they will be such colossal failure.
“With such poignant experience, it is very troubling. Troubling, largely because the basis of political relations with these leaders was limited to supporting their personal ambitions to become president.
“Once they achieve that, they turn out to lack the humility and respect for subordinates. They fail to consult and even destroyed all structures for consultations, including demolishing structures of the party that made it possible for them to achieve their personal ambitions,” Lukman noted in the statement.
Reacting further, he wrote: “We had moved from being opposition politicians to becoming a ruling party since 2015. Sadly, as a ruling party, we have become worse than the PDP we defeated in 2015. Unlike in the days of the PDP that allowed for opposition parties to function, we are today confronted with the ugly and depressing reality whereby all the opposition parties are being manipulated into deeper crisis of existential nature.
“For instance, the PDP has a Trojan horse in former Governor Nyesom Wike who is holding the party by the juggler and is ready to pull the party down to its political grave of irrelevance. The LP is marred with internal leadership problem with no end in sight. Although stakeholders of the party met to appoint a caretaker committee, the legality of the action is suspect.
“The NNPP is having its own share of leadership challenges and somehow only hoping to survive what is clearly an orchestrated attempt by the invincible APC forces to muscle it out of Kano State, its only political hold.
“In all these, Atiku Abubakar, acting through the PDP governors hope to reclaim the PDP. Mr. Peter Obi and the Labour Party stakeholders with no legal foot want to take control of the Labour Party. Rabiu Musa Kwankwasau is hopeful that he can overcome the APC onslaught against him in Kano.
“While the common enemy of all of them is the APC, and although conscious to all these leaders, alarmingly, the three leaders still think that they can succeed individually. I hope I am wrong. But I am increasingly becoming agitated that these leaders will, if not moderated, take us on the same old route of mismanagement due to personal ambitions.
“The hard truth is that if we allow them to lead us on that route, they have little or nothing to lose. But as Nigerians, we have everything to lose. What is it that we can do to divert these leaders away from the old route of mismanaged personal political ambitions?” Lukman asked in the statement.
