Restoring Constitutional Order in APC – Not Negotiable: Open Letter to Sen. Abdullahi Adamu
By Salihu Moh. Lukman
All Progressives Congress
North-West Zonal Office
Kaduna
Kindly recall my letter to you with the subject “Restoring Constitutional Order in APC: Demands”, dated February 5, 2023. The letter outlined nine demands as follows:
In line with provision of Article 13.4(ii) of the APC Constitution present report of activities for the last one year to the NWC.
In line with provision of Article 13.4(iv) of the APC Constitution present financial report on income and expenditure of the party for the last one year.
In line with provision of Article 13.3A(xiv) of the APC Constitution prepare a national budget for the party for the period May – December 2023, which should be ratified by the NWC for the consideration and approval of NEC.
In line with provisions of Article 13.4(vi) of our party Constitution, which directs the NWC to ‘propose electoral guidelines and regulations governing the conduct of elections to party offices at all levels, and procedure for selecting Party candidates for elective offices’, the NWC should immediately develop a proposal to zone leadership positions for the 10th National Assembly and present to NEC for consideration and approval.
Hold a NEC meeting before May 29, 2023 and 1 – 4 above should be part of the agenda of the NEC.
Submit the audited account of the party for 2022 that was submitted to INEC to the NWC.
Setup a committee to review the 2023 general elections and investigate cases of anti-party activities by leaders and members of the party.
Given the shameful outcome of the Osun 2022 Governorship election and the embarrassing outcome of the 2023 general elections in Osun State whereby we lost all the three Senatorial seats, all the House of Representatives seats and all the House of Assembly seats in the state, the National Secretary, Sen. Iyiola Omisore who is the most senior party leader in the state should immediately resign. In addition, the NWC should recommend to NEC that a high-powered reconciliation committee should be setup to facilitate reconciliation of all party leaders in Osun state.
In order to demonstrate commitment that we are going to restore constitutional order in the party, actions should commence on all these and NWC should meet within the next two weeks from today, Wednesday, April 5, 2023 to review progress.
Today, being April 19, 2023 makes it two weeks since the demands were presented. There was neither acknowledgement nor indication that any of the demands are being considered. Although the NWC met on Monday, April 17, 2023, deliberation of the NWC was limited to ratifying our Governorship candidates for Kogi, Bayelsa and Imo States for onward transmission to INEC. The only conclusion I can reach is that the demands I presented to you are not important. Perhaps, by extension, I can also conclude that given your disposition to run affairs of the party only based on your discretionary decisions without reference to provisions of the APC constitution, your commitment to the party and its electoral viability is weak.
Being the National Chairman who is respected by party leaders at all levels, it is worrisome that under your leadership, we will be back to the old problems of being unable to respect provisions of our constitution with respect to convening meetings of organs and ensuring that all our organs are allowed to perform their statutory functions as provided in our constitutions. It is more worrisome given that you are a lawyer by training, a very experienced politician who had the rare privilege of being a two term Governor as well as someone who has been operating at the highest level of national politics since the Second Republic. By any standard, no one will expect a person of your stature and experience in politics to be taciturn when it comes to managing affairs of the party based on respect for the party’s constitution.
To say the least, as a member of the NWC, I am scandalised and embarrassed that after one year in office we are yet to have a regular NEC, National Caucus or National Advisory Council (NAC) meetings. All the functions of these organs and the decisions expected from them by the constitution are being taken by you, perhaps in consultation with the National Secretary. When it suits you, the NWC is invited to ratify or approve some of your actions and decisions. As a member of NWC, we have never had any session where we were invited to consider any report of activity in the last one year. Yet, Article 13.4(ii) of our constitution require that the NWC submit quarterly reports to NEC. We have never deliberated on any financial report even when Article 13.4(iv) require that we present quarterly financial reports to NEC. We have never deliberated on a national budget although Article 13.3A(xiv) require that we present one to NEC and get approval.
Perhaps, inability to hold quarterly NEC meetings as provided under Article 25.2(i) of the party’s constitution may be the excuse for not having quarterly reports of activities, quarterly financial reports, and national budgets. It can also be argued that the problem of inability to hold quarterly NEC meetings go way back to the era of Chief John Odigie-Oyegun and is partly responsible for the crisis of leadership during the tenure of Comrade Adams Aliyu Oshiomhole. By extension, it could be argued too that the culture of running affairs of the party based on the discretionary decisions of the National Chairman did not start with the current NWC.
True as this may appear to be, I will imagine that one of the reasons why President Muhammadu Buhari nominated you to serve as the National Chairman is that being an experienced politician with all your track records, the least you can achieve is to be able to rally everybody to respect the constitution of the party based on which organs meet as directed by the constitution and decisions taken accordingly. Partly because we assumed office at the time when nomination of candidates for the 2023 elections was our first responsibility, that may be argued to have created the sense of urgency, which allowed for discretionary decisions to continue in the management of party affairs. But when one considers that the only NEC meeting, we had on April 8, 2022, decided only to allow the NWC to exercise its powers for a period of 90 days, it means that all the sense of urgency permissible to warrant discretionary decisions is only allowed for a limited period of 90 days from April 8. Thereafter, any decision requiring the authorisation of NEC, as from August 2022, must be referred to NEC.
With you as the National Chairman, experienced politician and knowledgeable in political jurisprudence, the question of legality of discretionary decisions within the jurisdiction and scope of issues NEC is empowered by our constitution to take decision should be very clear. Because you have chosen to only run affairs of the party based on your personal discretion, you have committed us into sacking our former Directors and appointing new ones without inviting even the NWC to deliberate on it. To the best of my knowledge, all that I could recall is that NWC decided to send all the former Directors on compulsory leave. At no time did the NWC decided that their appointments should be terminated, and new ones should be employed. Assuming the party’s constitution allows you to hire and fire all the staff of the party, the constitution of the party under Article 13.4(ii) has compelled you to present that as part of the quarterly reports to NEC.
With respect to national budget, the closest we came to was when the April 8, 2022 NEC approved the cost for nomination forms for 2022 elections. No proposed expenditure of any kind was presented to any organ of the party apart from the budget for the June 2022 National Convention, which was presented to the NWC on the eve of the June 2022 National Convention. Similarly, no report has been rendered to any organ including the NWC about any revenue received by the party. It is however speculated in the media that the party was able to generate over N30 billion from sales of nomination forms to aspiring candidates for the 2023 elections. Our state structures and other lower organs, which statutorily are entitled to shares of the party’s revenue are given very negligible amounts without allowing any organ of the party, including the NWC to make input into what was paid to the states.
Large scale financial expenditure is being undertaken without any organ of the party including the NWC allowed to perform any form of statutory due diligence. The National Secretariat has been undergoing large scale renovation and both the costs and details of the contract is not provided to any organ of the party including the NWC. Without a national budget approved by NEC as required by our constitution, all decisions on financial expenditure are limited to your benevolent disposition. Unfortunately, because this is the reality, there are party members who have rendered services during the process of nominating candidates for the 2023 elections that are yet to be paid their entitlements. There is also the decision to refund party members who bought nomination forms to contest for position of party leadership during the March 28, 2022 National Convention that elected us but were asked to stepped down to facilitate our emergence as consensus candidates, but are yet to be refunded.
Apart from very clearly unambiguous constitutional directives to the NWC with respect to our responsibilities to NEC and other superior organs such as quarterly reports of activities and financial reports of incomes and expenditure, there are other functions such as requirement for electoral guidelines and regulations governing the conduct of elections for party offices at all levels as provided under Article 13.4(vi) of our constitution. This is a responsibility given to NEC, and given the outcome of the 2023 elections, which gave us majority in both the two chambers of the National Assembly, require that the NWC should develop proposals for the consideration and approval of NEC. With about six weeks to the inauguration of new government, there is no indication that any proposal is being developed. In fact, no indication that a NEC meeting is being contemplated before May 29, 2023.
It is very difficult to comprehend why we should not be holding meetings of party organs to facilitate smooth transition from the current government of President Buhari and the incoming government of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Elementary logic would suggest that meetings of party organs would be required to help manage the process of assuming ownership and responsibility of the programmes, policies, and achievements of the current government by the incoming government. Because this is not happening some of our elected representatives have proceeded to declare aspirations and are going about campaigning in an unethical manner with the highest level of impunity and disregard for the party. At the rate we are going, it is almost a case that, as a party, we are abdicating our responsibility and we are setting a stage for the emergence of a rascally leadership in the two chambers of the 10th National Assembly, which can hold the Asiwaju Tinubu government hostage.
As someone who was part of the advocacy for the merger of our old legacy parties, it is very worrisome that we are working to undo all that we have achieved in Nigerian politics. Being the only party that was a product of merger negotiation throughout the political history of Nigeria, and the only party to have succeeded in defeating a ruling party, it was never the vision of our founding fathers, led by President Buhari and Asiwaju Tinubu that we will become a party that is disrespectful to our rules and our constitution.
As a reminder, we are a party that was inspired by President Buhari and Asiwaju Tinubu to make every sacrifice to lead the process of changing Nigerian politics. Changing Nigerian politics was envisioned to be about respect for our constitution based on which organs are allowed to meet and take decisions. Integral to that is about having party leaders that respect and comply with decisions of party organs. Sadly, we are today surrounded by many party leaders who worked against the party during the 2023 elections. Some of them are among those aspiring for the leadership of the two chambers of the 10th National Assembly. Yet, the party is not taking any step to take disciplinary action against these recalcitrant party leaders.
Certainly, this is not the vision that guided the merger negotiation of 2012 and 2013. We have allowed self-centred and, in many respects, sectarian people to assume position of responsibility within our party simply because we are comfortable with the positions we are privileged to be holding today. The demands for the restoration of constitutional order in APC is primarily to arrest the drift towards the emergence of unaccountable leaders within the party, which can only be achieved by ensuring that all party organs meet regularly as directed by the party’s constitution. These demands are hereby presented to restore constitutional order in the APC and to halt the current drift whereby most decisions of the party are narrowed to discretionary choices of the National Chairman and the National Secretary.
If discretionary decisions are allowed to continue to guide the management of the party, self-centred and sectarian approached to managing elections will take over. This can adversely erode the popularity base of our party as was the case in Osun State. This must be arrested immediately and with the urgency it requires. The only way to do that will be to restore constitutional order within the APC. Restoring constitutional order within the APC is about returning the APC to its founding vision, which is non-negotiable. Restoring the APC to its founding vision is about protecting the principles that guided the leadership of President Buhari throughout the last eight years. It is about calibrating the incoming government of Asiwaju Tinubu to ensure that it build on the successes of the President Buhari administration. This will also require that every member of the Asiwaju Tinubu government share in the vision of the party. This is not something that can be left to chances.
The party is practically therefore required to manage the process of transition in such a manner that there is indeed continuity while at the same time taking steps to learn from the mistakes of the President Buhari administration. This is one responsibility, which the PDP managed very poorly and, in the end, produced a highly frustrated former President Olusegun Obasanjo who end up destroying his PDP membership card. As a founding member of the APC, we must push for the restoration of constitutional order in APC such that the inspirationally strong relationship between outgoing President Buhari and incoming President Asiwaju Tinubu will remain and would continue to guide the management of both party and governmental affairs.
As things are, if allowed to continue, under your leaders as the National Chairman of the party, we are unfortunately setting the stage for destroying the relationship that exists between outgoing President Buhari and incoming President Asiwaju Tinubu. Anyone who is working to destroy a political relationship that inspired the successful achievement of the first political merger negotiation in the political history of Nigeria, which led to the first defeat of a ruling party for Nigeria, don’t mean well for Nigerian democracy.
I make this an open letter because it is about campaigning to return the APC to its foundation, which requires that we mobilise all like-minded party leaders and members in this crusade to restore constitutional order in the APC. As a person, I have concluded that everything must be done to compel you to respect the constitution of our party and manage its affairs based on the requirements of our constitution and not your personal discretion. Therefore, by this open letter, I am serving you notice of one week from today, being Wednesday, April 19, 2023 to take all the appropriate steps required to convene a NEC meeting before May 29, 2023 wherein all the issues bordering on the management of smooth transition between the outgoing government of President Buhari and the incoming government of President Asiwaju Tinubu can be considered. If by the end of this one-week notice, no action is taken to convene a NEC meeting as the first step to restore constitutional order in APC, I will not hesitate to take further actions, including approaching our courts to enforce compliance with the provisions of our party’s constitution under your leadership.
Like I have argued in my letter to you of December 26, 2022 on the subject “Democracy and Accountability: Concerns about State of Affairs of APC”, “being a party that is committed to enthroning progressive politics as the pillars of developing our democracy and moving our nation forward, these issues should be urgently addressed. Inability to address these issues would continue to undermine our electoral viability.” The current NWC under your leadership should stop acting as a Trojan Horse programmed to destroy our party. Only compliance with and respect for our constitution by allowing all our superior organs, notably NEC, National Caucus and NAC, to function and take decisions accordingly, which should be binding on all party leaders and members can secure our party. This is not negotiable!
