‘Discretionary decisions’ — Salihu Lukman writes APC Chairman, Adamu, accuses him of flouting constitution

 

Salihu Lukman, vice-chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the north-west, has accused Abdullahi Adamu, the party’s national chairman, of highhandedness.

 

In a letter dated April 19 and addressed to Adamu, Lukman alleged that the APC national chairman is running the affairs of the party in disregard to the party’s constitution.

 

He claimed that despite numerous letters he wrote to Adamu to convene a meeting of the national working committee (NWC), the APC chairman declined and instead chose to run the party arbitrarily.

 

“Perhaps, by extension, I can also conclude that given your disposition to run affairs of the party only based on your discretionary decisions without reference to provisions of the APC constitution, your commitment to the party and its electoral viability is weak,” the letter reads.

 

 “Being the national chairman who is respected by party leaders at all levels, it is worrisome that under your leadership, we will be back to the old problems of being unable to respect provisions of our constitution with respect to convening meetings of organs and ensuring that all our organs are allowed to perform their statutory functions as provided in our constitutions.

 

“It is more worrisome given that you are a lawyer by training, a very experienced politician who had the rare privilege of being a two-term Governor as well as someone who has been operating at the highest level of national politics since the second republic. By any standard, no one will expect a person of your stature and experience in politics to be taciturn when it comes to managing affairs of the party based on respect for the party’s constitution.”

 

Salihu further claimed that the APC national chairman has refused to account for the funds raised by NWC from the sale of forms during the party’s presidential primary last year.

 

“As a member of NWC, we have never had any session where we were invited to consider any report of activity in the last year. Yet, Article 13.4 (ii) of our constitution requires that the NWC submit quarterly reports to NEC,” he said.

 

“We have never deliberated on any financial report even when Article 13.4 (iv) requires that we present quarterly financial reports to NEC. We have never deliberated on a national budget although Article 13.3A(xiv) requires that we present one to NEC and get approval.

 

“Large-scale financial expenditure is being undertaken without any organ of the party including the NWC allowed to perform any form of statutory due diligence.”

 

‘DISCRETIONARY DECISIONS MUST BE ARRESTED URGENTLY’

Salihu said Adamu will not be allowed to run the party as a sole proprietorship, adding that compliance with the APC constitution is sacrosanct.

 

“As a reminder, we are a party that was inspired by President Buhari and Asiwaju Tinubu to make every sacrifice to lead the process of changing Nigerian politics,” he said.

 

“If discretionary decisions are allowed to continue to guide the management of the party, self-centred and sectarian approaches to managing elections will take over. This must be arrested immediately and with the urgency it requires.

 

“The only way to do that will be to restore constitutional order within the APC. Restoring constitutional order within the APC is about returning the APC to its founding vision, which is non-negotiable.“