Director-General of the Progressive Governors’ Forum (PGF), Salihu Moh. Lukman, has rated the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in internal democracy mechanism
The PGF boss, who defended the internal operational mechanism of his ruling All Progressives Congress APC, said contrary to certain opinions, the APC is ‘radically different’ from the country’s main opposition, the Peoples Democratic Party PDP.
Lukman my in a statement he issued in Abuja, titled, ‘Seductiveness of Conventional Politics and the Challenges facing APC’ which he dedicated to Sam Nda-Isaiah, Publisher of Leadership Newspapers and a founding member of the APC and one of its Presidential Aspirants in 2014,
Lukman urged the Gov. Mai Mala Buni-led Caretaker Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee CECPC to concentrate on rebuilding the party rather than its current resort to issuing dry press statements against a fumbling PDP. He conceded that after the 2015 elections, leadership disagreements within the APC became the source of electoral strength for the PDP and other opposition parties.
“It is clear that the return to the conventional approach to politics in APC commenced during the merger negotiations of 2013 and got consolidated with the electoral victory of 2015. Unlike what happened in PDP between 1999 and 2007 however, the dynamic in APC didn’t allow any power bloc to monopolise the control of the party.
“It is very easy to dismiss the APC as being the same as the PDP. In truth, however, the APC is radically different from the PDP. For instance, while the PDP leadership is still in denial that there are challenges facing the party requiring internal reforms, the APC leadership since 2018 in fact recognised the need for reforms.
He argued further that it was the recognition for reforms that led to the decision to change the Chief John Odigie-Oyegun leadership, which brought in Comrade Adams Oshiomhole’s leadership.
“Unlike in the PDP, there was internal debate about whether to change Chief Oyegun’s leadership or not. Instead of the conventional approach of forcing Chief Oyegun to resign, which is the practice in PDP, Chief Oyegun’s leadership was democratically changed at a National Convention”
