The Director General of the Progressive Governors Forum (PGF), Dr. Salihu Lukman, has again lashed out at the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, insisting that without the convocation of the National Executive Committee (NEC), the current party National Working Committee (NWC) was operating illegally.
Lukman however stated that contrary to speculations that he had been vilified about his statements, nobody has called to condem him but praising him for speaking out the truth.
He, however, warned former Edo state governor to stop behaving as if Edo state is equal to Nigeria, saying the national chairman must do everything possible to redeem his image and free himself from cage.
The DG APC governors forum had issued a statement on Wednesday asking Oshiomhole to convene NEC meeting or resign as the national chairman of the ruling party.
Speaking with newsmen in Abuja Thursday, Dr. Lukman expressed worry that Bayelsa state hovernorship contest may go the way of Zamfara state where the party may not be able to field candidates in the election.
Lukman said: “The issue here is that everyday, the NWC under Comrade Adams Oshiomhole continues to run the affairs of the party without convening NEC meetings. It is working illegally.”We are living with the danger of Zamfara being reincarnated and a court judgment may later come that we do not have a candidate.”
He further stated that: “I want to say that all that we tried to do especially with respect to the statement in question is first of all, we are Nigerians. Two, we are party members and three, I can tell you that as a privileged person, 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 feel 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 remember there was a session I told you that our party, the APC is a product of sacrifice. Our leaders from President Buhari to the leaders of the Legacy Parties that dissolved themselves to give birth to the APC made huge sacrifices and Comrade Adams who I must emphatically say I owe a lot to his person 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 day that I am worried at the direction he is taking the party, I think he himself, should be worried because this is not the Adams that really, everybody has the confidence in.
“Having said all of these, I want to say that the request for him to convene a meeting of the NEC is first inspired by his commitment in the first place when he announced his intention to run for the national chairman of the APC.”
While giving clarification on the statement he released on Tuesday, he said: “I have not received any call asking me why I did it (issue the statement). Not one, including governors.
“There is no meeting of governors where decision was taken on this matters, that is why I am saying that first of all, I am talking as a Nigerian, secondly, I am talking as a loyal party member and thirdly, as somebody who knows the sentiments, everybody is worried. But the truth is that, even Comrade Adams knows, once you are on the side of truth, you do not need an office to speak out,” the governors forum boss declared.
