…Accuses party’s boss of recklessly mismanaging N30b nomination forms funds
From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
A member of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Salihu Moh Lukman, has described the ruling party as a shadow of itself due to leadership style of the National Chairman, Abdullahi Adamu, running the party as garrison commander.
Lukman further accused the party’s chairman of reckless financial mismanagement in spending more than N30 billion realised from the sales of forms for the 2023 elections.
In a statement he issued in Abuja on Friday, the former Director General APC Progressive Governors Forum (PGF), lamented that management of the party has been limited to the discretion of the National Chairman, adding that when it is convenient, he involves members of the NWC.
“The sad reality is that the APC as constituted today is only a shadow of itself with a National Chairman that is highly unaccountable running affairs of the party more as a garrison commander. He relates with his colleagues in the NWC just like his appointees.
“In their name he meets other leaders of the party and seek to manipulate party decisions to suite personal vested interests that is only known to him,” he quipped.
Lukman equally frowned at Adamu’s financial dealings, claiming sadly that APC is in contempt with its own rules led by a determined and decidedly conservative, reactionary, and undemocratic leadership.
“Beyond all these is also a clear case of reckless financial management of the party. With more than N30 billion realised during the sales of forms for the 2023 elections, Adamu and General Secretary, Iyiola Omisore, have embarked on spending extravaganza based on their discretionary decisions without any form of budget as required by the APC constitution.
“With NEC not meeting as required, they give no financial report to anyone, not even to the NWC. Having got the NWC around July 2022 to approve the suspension of Directors, they have proceeded to employ new Directors as well as more staff at the National Secretariat without recourse to the Establishment Committee, which is yet to be formed. All these have increased the running cost of the party without the approval of NEC.
“Unlike the vision of establishing a people-oriented progressive party that would facilitate the democratic development of the country, we sadly have in our hand an APC, which is in contempt with its own rules led by a determined and decidedly conservative, reactionary, and undemocratic leadership who are opposed to allowing any form of internal accountability to party organs and members.
“Consequently, the APC has been reduced to only an election vehicle, like other parties in the country. To the disappointment of many founding members of the party and Nigerians, almost all the undemocratic practices associated with the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) such as imposition of candidates are now common in APC.
“Critical issues of party funding, for instance, has remained very ad hoc. No defined funding framework has been established. Although Article 22 of the APC Constitution provides that the party shall be funded through the following:
Subscription, fees and levies of members;
“Proceeds from investments; subventions, donations and fund raising; gifts and grants by governments, individuals or groups of individuals as allowed by law; borrowing as approved by National Executive Committee; and any other lawful means.
“The only funding so far is fees and levies, which is more limited to cost of nomination forms for party aspiring candidates. Membership subscription, which would have been the main source of funding for the party is yet to be addressed.
“Unfortunately, even if membership subscription is set and approved by the competent organ of the party, poor membership record and poor organisation of the party at lower levels may become a stumbling block and source of corruption internally within the party.
“This is partly because, apart from poor membership records, absence of clearly defined financial policy, many zonal, state, local government and ward structures of the party don’t operate any bank account. These structures hardly receive any funding from the National Secretariat.
“These are issues, which the Finance Committee of the party would have to immediately address. Addressing this would require a return to developing the needed institutional framework for establishing a computerised membership data base,” he noted in the statement.