APC NWC member issues Adamu one-week ultimatum to convene NEC meeting

• Threatens legal action, insists on Omisore’s resignation

From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja

The leadership crisis rocking the All Progressives Congress (APC) took a disturbing dimension on Wednesday as a National Working Committee (NWC) member, Salihu Moh Lukman, issued a one-week ultimatum to the party’s National Chairman, Abdullahi Adamu, to convene an emergency National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting.

Lukman, in a letter he wrote to the party’s boss, threatened to take legal action against him should he fail to convene an NEC meeting to deliberate on the multiple infractions he committed as the headship of the ruling party.

The former Director General of APC Progressive Governors Forum (PGF) reiterated his earlier call for the resignation of the National Secretary of the party, Iyiola Omisore, over the shameful performance of the party in Osun State in both the governorship and legislative elections.

The letter made available to newsmen in Abuja read: “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 an 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 Tinubu can be considered.

“If by the end of this one-week notice, no action is taken to convene an 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!” Lukman wrote in the letter.

Defending his call for Omisore’s resignation, he wrote: “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, Iyiola Omisore who is the most senior party leader in the state should immediately resign.”

He also enumerated the grounds for his hostile stands against the party’s chairman, stressing that he is scandalised and embarrassed that after one year in office, they are yet to have regular NEC, National Caucus or National Advisory Council (NAC) meetings.

“With you as the National Chairman, an experienced politician and knowledgeable in political jurisprudence, the question of the 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 to 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 decide 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 the 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 are 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,” he lamented.