A former National Vice Chairman, North-west of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Dr. Salihu Lukman has dumped the ruling party.
He said it doesn’t require any investigation that there was no way APC could win elections except through rigging, if the anti-people policies of President Bola Tinubu was anything to go by.
Lukman stressed that the popular saying in the country now is that Tinubu is a one-term President, saying that the hard truth is that the country would be lucky to get to 2027 without witnessing upheavals.
Lukman in a letter to selected party leaders titled: ‘APC and The Future of Nigerian Democracy’ made available to journalists on Wednesday in Abuja decried Tinubu’s intolerance to criticisms and anti-people policies which he said were completely contradictory to his campaign document, ‘Renewed Hope’.
He explained his decision to quit the ruling party was because Tinubu was not ready to allow internal reform in the party to return it to its founding vision.
Against this background, Lukman said his membership of the party had been rendered useless and there was no need for him to continue to impose himself.
Lukman noted: “The policies of his government are clearly anti-people and completely contradictory to even his campaign document Renewed Hope. Sadly, the way things are, there is a prevailing atmosphere of being intolerant to criticism.
“From all indications, even high-ranking members of his cabinet have limited access to him. Consequently, here we are with a government, which is supposedly ours but treating us as recluses, if not enemies. We are anything but stakeholders
“Given all this, it is possible to remain in APC if at all President Asiwaju Tinubu will allow internal reform in the party to return it to its founding vision, which as it is, is very remote. But my reality now in the party is that my membership has been rendered useless and there is no need for me to continue to impose myself.
“It doesn’t require any investigation, at this rate, there is no way we can win elections except through rigging. The popular saying in the country now is that President Asiwaju Tinubu is a one-term President. The hard truth is that the country will be lucky to get to 2027 without witnessing upheavals.”
The former director general of Progressives Governors Forum (PGF) lamented that Tinubu was even inaccessible to many party leaders.
Lukman added that the pain of admitting this was beyond description, stressing that Tinubu reduced them to this despicable reality.
According to him, It is far more painful given that party leaders have been cowed to silence. No one want to take the risk of being on the wrong side of President Asiwaju Tinubu. I have spent the last one year advocating for internal reform.