Salihu Moh. Lukman, former National Vice Chairman, Northwest, of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has criticized Senate President Godswill Akpabio for allegedly reducing the Nigerian Senate to a parastatal under the President Bola Tinubu-led administration.
Lukman’s statement, titled “Fanatical Mindset,” was issued on Thursday in Abuja and expressed concern over the sack of Senate Whip, Mohammed Ndume, by the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party, led by Abdullahi Ganduje.
The former Director General of the Progressive Governors’ Forum (PGF) urged all patriotic Nigerians to take responsibility for rescuing the country from the current situation.
Querying how Nigerians can have a democracy that produces leaders who are intolerant to criticisms, Lukman urged Nigerians not to allow a situation whereby so-called leaders of the ruling party will behave like officials of military tribunals who operate with the fanatical mindset of condemning everyone accused of wrongdoing without the benefit of fair hearing.
“It is quite interesting that Dr. Ganduje and Sen. Basiru could ask Sen. Ndume to ‘honourably resign the membership of APC and join any opposition party of his choice formally’. Already, with non-functioning organs, the APC has basically dismissed all its members.
“Nowhere in the Constitution of APC where the National Chairman, National Secretary, or any official, or even the National Working Committee is given the powers to summarily remove any principal officer of the National Assembly.
“It is a shame that the APC Senate Caucus will permit such an act of illegality. By so doing, they have set a precedence that will further erode the independence of the National Assembly.
“Already, with the way Sen. Godswill Akpabio has been conducting himself almost reducing the Senate Chamber to the status of a parastatal of government, the action of the APC under the leadership of Dr Ganduje to direct removal of principal officers for criticizing President Tinubu’s government highlights the fanatical mindset undermining Nigerian democracy.
“Any democracy that cannot accommodate criticisms is no democracy. A democracy that subverts fair hearing is a dictatorship. A democracy that permits a ruling party to demobilize its organs and inadvertently expels its members is worse than a military government. All patriotic Nigerian political leaders must unite to restore Nigeria’s democracy. Nigerian opposition leaders must unite to build a truly strong political party to rebuild Nigerian democracy. All our opposition leaders and orphaned leaders of APC must come together and unite. Sen. Ndume being the newest APC orphan is welcome to join the efforts of political leaders in the country to restore and rebuild our democracy.
“So long as APC, its leadership and Asiwaju Tinubu’s government have taken the self-destructive path, which is equivalent to a declaration of working to end their tenure in 2027, patriotic Nigerians must help them to ensure their defeat in 2027!”
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APC had in a letter to Akpabio alleged that Sen. Ndume “have been making uncouth and rabid outbursts against the government, before the international and before the global community is not only harmful to the government’s image alone but also undermines the party’s unity and cohesion and in addition, undermines the government’s efforts to bring in foreign direct investments to Nigeria”.
The letter referred to a televised interview with Arise Television where Sen. Ndume expressed the concern that the APC government of President Tinubu was going down because according to him the government is being run by kakistocrats, which he explains to mean ‘a government run by the worst, least qualified, or most unscrupulous citizens’.
He went further to add that the ‘government is populated by kakistocrats and kleptocrats’, explaining that kleptocratic component refers to people ‘who are in government for what they can make for themselves’.
Accordingly, the letter to the Senate requested Sen. Ndume to ‘honourably resign the membership of APC and join any opposition party of his choice formally instead of hiding behind the veil of crass activism to decimate the hard-earned cohesion and goodwill that …the APC is enjoying within and outside the country.’
However, Lukman said in an ideal democratic setting where the organs of the party are functioning, a competent organ of the party would have been convened to deliberate on the issues raised by Sen. Ndume.
He said if the organs of the party were functioning, instead of raising the issues in a television station, the issue would have been raised at a meeting of a competent organ of the party. Such a competent organ would have been the National Caucus, National Executive Committee (NEC) or National Advisory Council.
“Somehow, the letter directing the removal of Sen. Ndume confirmed the allegations of a government of Kakistocrat. Dr. Ganduje and Sen. Ajibola and perhaps a small group of party leaders who have caged the President usurped the powers of organs of the APC and proceeded to pass judgement on Sen. Ndume. It is very doubtful if members of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party are given the benefit of being part of those who took the decision to remove Sen. Ndume as the Chief Whip of the Senate. It is also doubtful if members of the APC Caucus in the Senate were consulted before the decision was taken to both remove Sen. Ndume and appoint Sen. Monguno as his replacement. It is simply an action taken by party leaders with fanatical mindset of blocking any attempt to scrutinize the President and actions being taken either directly by him or by his representatives, in whatever guise.
“Beyond issues of fair hearing, the substantive allegation made by Sen. Ndume is that President Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu is inaccessible. Those he refers to as Kakistocrats and Kleptocrats have caged the President so much so that even Ministers are not able to access him. These are not new allegations. The way the government is being managed is quite worrisome. Anybody who knows Asiwaju Tinubu and how he has operated throughout his political life, will certainly know that it is unlike Asiwaju Tinubu to be insular. Many of the decisions taken betrays the true Asiwaju Tinubu. For instance, it is doubtful if Asiwaju Tinubu as Governor of Lagos State for eight years has had any instance of reversing any of the decisions he took. But as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in the last one year, Nigerians are beginning to lose count of the number of decisions he took and ended up reversing them”, he submitted.
