The director- general of the Progressives Governors Forum, Salihu Lukman, has decried the worsening state of affairs in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
He said it was no longer news that the party was in crisis but that the party “is collapsing with no leader in charge.”
The crisis in APC has worsened after the appeal court ruling upholding the suspension of Adams Oshiomhole as the party’s national chairman early this week.
Currently, two members are laying claim to the leadership position of the party, Abiola Ajimobi, a former Oyo State governor and Victor Giadom, a deputy national secretary of the APC, who declared himself as the party’s acting national chairman on Wednesday.
While Ajimobi remained unavailable, supposedly due to ill health, the APC National Working Committee (NWC) loyal to him, on Wednesday appointed Hilliard Eta, the party’s vice-chairman South-South, to act as chairman pending when Ajimobi shows up.
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However, worried by the situation the party has found itself, Lukman in a statement on Thursday said what the party needed now was “organ transplant”.
Noting that there was need to replace members of the NWC, who he said, constituted a problem to the party, Lukman added that it was necessary for the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party to meet over the leadership crisis.
The statement read, “It is very clear we need an organ transplant by way of replacing the members of the current NWC who constitute the problem. That the All Progressives Congress (APC) is having a leadership crisis is no longer news,” he said.
“What is news now is that the party is collapsing with no leader in charge.
“Following the appeal court ruling sustaining the suspension of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole as the National Chairman of the party, late on Monday, June 16, 2020, members of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party started making disparate claims as to who is the acting national chairman.
“It is as if the party doesn’t have a constitution or those who operate the constitution are either ignorant of its provisions or have decided to set aside the constitution and just embark on a free for all fight. Yet, APC is the ruling party in Nigeria.”
He wondered, “How can a party so blessed with experienced and very skillful leaders such as Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Chief Bisi Akande, Chief Ogbonnaya Onu, Chief Tony Momoh, etc. be incapable of resolving the problem of leadership vacancy.
“The combined moral authority of President Buhari and Asiwaju Tinubu should have involuntarily moderated the conduct of other leaders of the party, especially members of the NWC.
“Does the current APC leadership crisis therefore suggest declining moral authority of our two leaders? It is very easy to reach conclusions.”
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