Sheriff’s comment about APC ruling for 40years not progressive – PGF DG

By Adedayo Akinwale

The Director General of Progressives Governors Forum (PGF), Dr. Salihu Lukman, has faulted the former Governor of Borno state, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff over a recent comment credited to him that the All Progressives Congress (APC) needs a rugged party Chairman to rule the country for 40 years.

He said the comment credited to Sheriff should not have come from progressive politician.

Lukman stated this while featuring on national television on Wednesday, saying a progressive politician should think of how to endear himself to the citizens.

He stated: “The other issue is how the party organises itself, we can’t have a party where for instance I have seen recently somebody aspiring for national chairmanship of the party saying the party needs a tough person to rule up to 40 years. That is not how a progressive should be thinking,

“A progressive should be thinking of how to endear himself to the citizens, it is not a question of how long you rule but how you are able to constantly endear yourself to the citizens. If you say you want to rule for 40 years, it is a question of going to lobby citizens to vote you, this is where we are coming from in terms of manipulating elections and what have you and these are the brutal issues in terms of politics in Nigeria which will take time to change, and it is not a one day thing, it is a life journey and we have to embark on that journey.”

The party chieftain also stressed the need for the party register to be computerised, adding that the party cannot afford not to preserve the data to party members electronically.

According to him, I believe as a party, immediately after the Convention, the first thing the new leadership should do is to have membership data that is computerised. We can’t continue to have a situation where our membership data is not electronically preserved. We must ensure that our membership data is updated electronically without the tedious process of handling it in an analogue way.

Lukman also lauded the Governor Mai Mala Buni-led Caretaker Committee for the manner it has been organising the party congresses, saying moving forward, it would be difficult for any individual to hijack the organs of the party at the Ward level.

He added, “The Caretaker Committee has taken a very excellent decision based on the logic that the framework is to ensure that everybody is registered in the party. So, when they took the decision there should be a consensus, it is a departure from the old framework whereby people with financial muscle will go and ensure they win elections at congress level.

“Now the Caretaker Committee said everybody must be represented and that is the whole idea. So, if every block is represented, you have started departing from the old framework where the person who has the muscle will come and take over all the leadership and when you come to do primaries, that person is already guaranteed, now it is no longer the case, everybody will now be represented.”