Former Director General of Progressive Governors’ Forum, PGF, and immediate-past National Vice Chairman, North West of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, Salihu Lukman has said that the party can no longer win elections without rigging.
Lukman, in a statement on Wednesday said he found it necessary to write to a few leaders of the party and try to clarify his position regarding the situation both in the party and in the country.
“It is a shared concern of most leaders of the party that the situation in the country has deteriorated in the last year since the assumption of office of President Bola Tinubu.
“Given a reality that the party structures have been demobilized and the government is implementing policies that have eroded the value of incomes of citizens, conditions of living are rapidly getting worse by the day. With that, both the APC and the governments it controls are getting more and more unpopular.
“It doesn’t require any investigation, at this rate, there is no way we can win election except through rigging. The popular saying in the country now is that President Tinubu is a one-term President. The hard truth is that the country will be lucky to get to 2027, without witnessing upheavals,” he stated.
According to him, given the experiences of Nigerians with both former President Muhammadu Buhari and the current President Tinubu, Nigerians must learn the appropriate lessons by ensuring that moving forward, they must prioritise the development of a strong party organisation, which can subordinate the President and all elected representatives under the control of organs of the party.
“Given all this, it is not possible to remain in APC, if at all President 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.
Praying that God touches the heart of President Tinubu to make him recover whatever is left of his democratic credentials, Lukman said he had lost hope that after one year of planless leadership, not much can be achieved during his administration.
APC can no longer win elections without rigging – Lukman
