Director General, Progressive Governors’ Forum (PGF), Salihu Lukman, on Thursday declared that his demand for the resignation of the national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole, has the backing of party leaders, including the governors,City News reports.
The PGF, the body of governors of the APC, has Kebbi State Governor, Atiku Bagudu, as chairman, while Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, is the vice chairman.
Lukuman, who stated that he had nothing personal against Oshiomhole, accused the former Edo governor of running the APC without recourse to the National Executive Committee (NEC).
“I have not received any call asking me why I issued the statement. Not one, including governors. There is no meeting of governors where decision was taken on this matter. That is why I am saying that first of all, I am talking as a Nigerian”, he told New Telegraph.
“I am talking as a loyal party member and thirdly, as somebody who knows the sentiments; everybody is worried. We are living with the danger of Zamfara being reincarnated and a court judgment may later come that we did not have a candidate in Bayelsa State. The truth is that, must we wait to lose election in Bayelsa before we act?
“Secondly, we are party members and thirdly, I can tell you that being the DG of the PGF, I am privileged to relate with not just governors but everyone in the party. And to that extent, one can have a feeling of the concerns, the worries and really, the frustration that exist in the party.
“I thought I needed to make this background clarification because I received calls from people asking me whether the statement was coming from governors or from me as a person. Those issues need not even come up. What is at stake is the substance and content. If anybody wants to dispute it, they should look into the content and I think that is the challenge before us. This is what this country requires.
“I owe a lot to his person (Oshiomhole), having been with him almost all my working life. He gave me the job that launched me into where I am today – and to this day, I believe we share basically the same convictions. And if I say that I am worried at the direction he is taking the party, I think he himself, should be worried more because this is not the Adams that really, everybody has confidence in.”
Lukman stressed that as long as the National Working Committee (NWC) under Oshiomhole continues to run the affairs of the party without convening NEC meetings, it is working illegally.
