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…Warns NEC meeting won’t hold without NWC-approved agenda
…Says they behave like emperors, no longer committed to lead party
From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
The All Progressives Congress (APC) leadership crisis took worrisome dimension on Wednesday when a member of National Working Committee (NWC), Salihu Moh Lukman, accused National Chairman, Abdullahi Adamu and National Secretary, Iyiola Omisore, of deliberately refusing to give any form of financial support to party’s presidential candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu and other candidates of the party in the 2023 election.
The party’s National Vice Chairman (North West) argued that despite generating over whopping N30 billion, the party’s headship, spearheaded by the duo of Adamu and Omisore, could not support the party’s candidates, contrary to what the past leadership of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole did in 2019.
Speaking to newsmen in Abuja on Wednesday while reacting to the claims made against him by the duo, Lukman said: “I want to say this for the records. Since we came we have never been presented, even at the last NEC of April 2022, we have not been presented financial reports till today. I challenge both the national chairman and the national secretary, they have never presented to the NWC any financial statement.
“We are expected to present a proposed national budget to the National Executive Committee (NEC) for approval by the provision of Article 13, 3A.14 of the APC constitution. I felt embarrassed when I heard the National Secretary saying the budget of the party has been sent to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). INEC is not the approving authority of the budget of the APC. The approving authority is the NEC.
“Till today we don’t have a national budget. Yet we made over N30 billion from sales of forms. Till today as a member of the NWC and majority members of the NWC, maybe with the exception of the Financial Secretary, Treasurer or the Auditor who may have inside knowledge of how much was expended on the renovation of the national secretariat of the party, we have no knowledge of what is being expended.
“Talking of national budget we are just coming out of elections whereby we are not able to sustain past precedence. What was the past precedence? Under Comrade Oshiomhole in 2019, every candidate of the party recieved something from the national secretariat. This last election, no candidate of the candidate recieved a dime from the party.
“Talking of finances in our constitution the NEC is supposed to approve some form of sharing formula. I am aware that each state chapter have received about N20 million out of the N30 billion. Put together that is about N700 million, less than a billion which is less than three per cent of the total income that has been earned. Yet we want to sweep this under the carpet.
“We are having states, zonal, local councils and ward levels who are left on their own. The whole question of funding of the party has not been addressed,” he claimed.
Asked if President Tinubu is among the candidates, Adamu refused to support and whether he has idea of how much the party gave to Buhari in 2015 and 2019, Lukman replied: “The party did not support the candidates including Tinubu. He didn’t get a dime from the party. I am making this public. Let them challenge me and contradict me.
“Look in 2015, the party was truly a model party. President Buhari doesn’t have money. People were assigned responsibility to raise money. It is just like Asiwaju and you say Asiwaju have money. So, there were people assigned with the responsibility of mobilizing money for the party. If anything was done in 2023 based on that it would be the initiative of Asiwaju. I am not aware of it as a party.
“If you remember in-between we were busy causing distractions about what should be our roles in the presidential campaign council. Unless we are humble and honest to admit that these are things that ordinarily shouldn’t have happened and admit we need to correct them and reshape the relationship between us and the government that emerged we would continue to have the problem we are having,” he said
On the possibility of NEC meeting holding as rescheduled, Lukman said: “It is not what the national chairman and secretary want to be on the agenda that should go to NEC and National Caucus. It should be what the NWC has approved. And I am saying till this moment the NWC has not approved any agenda. I am also saying till this moment there is no proper notice to any person who is supposed to be at that meeting.
“For goodness sake we are dealing with a category of people like the President, the Senate President, the Speaker of the House of Representatives and his Deputy. These are very high level people and you want them to come to the meeting without telling them what is the agenda? That is not right,” Lukman doubted the possibility of holding NEC meeting as planned.
While accusing them of behaving like emperors who are no longer committed to lead party, the former Director General APC Progressive Governors Forum (PGF), said that whatever they interpret as his antecedents, it cannot be compared with an alleged murderer or somebody associated with witches.
“Our vision was that we would produce a leadership under Abdullahi Adamu that would take us back to our founding vision that would encourage internal debate. What I see now is a party that doesn’t want any debate.
“Adamu and Omisore want to behave like emperors and sincerely speaking that departs from the vision of APC being a progressive party they made unpalatable comments about my antecedents and I challenge them to present clips of where I tendered apologies. Whatever is my antecedents there is nothing in my antecedents that made me an alleged murderer or somebody associated with witches,” he quipped
