By Ayo Yusuf
Five days after writing a well publicised letter to the Progressive Governors Forum, PGF, to protest the reported choice of former governor of Kano State, Dr Abdullahi Ganduje as the replacement for the outed National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, the party’s national vice chairman for North-west, Mallam Salihu Lukman, has officially resigned from its National Working Committee, NWC.
Although he did not specifically say if his resignation was in connection with his sworn protest against Dr. Ganduje’s adoption, his letter of resignation said he was leaving until President Bola Tinubu and other leaders of the party, “retract from acts that will be unjust and illegal, which is crucial to any claim of being democratic or progressive whether as politicians or as patriotic Nigerians.”
Mr. Lukman had said in his earlier letter to the PGF that replacing Mr. Adamu who is from the North-central with Mr. Ganduje who hails from Kano in the North-west not only messes up the party’s zoning formular but is a patent injustice against the former especially as the latter already boasts both the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Deputy Senate President.
Mr. Lukman submitted his resignation letter to the acting National Chairman of the party, Senator Abubakar Kyari on Wednesday.
His sudden resignation came one week after the resignations of Senators Adamu and Iyiola Omisore, as the APC National Chairman and National Secretary, respectively.
In the copy of the letter seen by our correspondent, Lukman wrote, “Your Excellency, I hereby kindly resign my position as National Vice Chairman, North-West of our great party, the All Progressives Congress. My resignation is with immediate effect, which becomes necessary given my conviction that the atmosphere in the party is completely at variance with the founding vision of forming a progressive party.
“Rather than remaining in the leadership of the party and become a source of distraction for leaders and especially for the young government of President Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, it is better to excuse myself and take time off from politics.”
The Kaduna politician, however, said he retained his membership of the party “in the hope that our leaders, especially President Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu,” will change their mind over some egregious mistakes they were determined to make.
Mr. Lukman applauded former Kaduna State governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, for nominating and standing by him throughout his tenure and promised to continue to support the party in every way that he could.
It was gathered that news of Lukman’s resignation has jolted the ruling party which recently claimed that the resignations of the party’s national chairman and secretary recently was not a big deal and will not harm the party.
A reliable source at the APC secretariat told our correspondent that a considerable number of the 21-member NWC, who read the letter after it was posted on the official platform, was taken aback.
“I have called him severally on the phone without success. Quite many people have been reaching out to him. Perhaps, he might reach out later,” the source said.
“We need to look at whether his stepping down is subject to acceptance of the NWC or he elected to go. If it is the latter, it is the end of the matter. Going by what is being expressed on the platform, he will be sorely missed,” the source added.
TheNewDiplomat confirmed that a crucial meeting of the NWC had been summoned in the wake of Mr. Lukman’s resignation.
“As expected, we are having a crucial meeting of the NWC tomorrow (Thursday) by noon. Let’s see how it goes,” said a source.
Recall that Lukman was in the news five days ago when he wrote the Progressive Governors’ Forum to express his displeasure over the alleged choice of former Kano Governor, Dr Abdullahi Ganduje, to replace Adamu as national chairman of the party.
