TheCable

Salihu Lukman, former director-general of the Progressive Governors Forum (PGF), says any leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) seen to be working against the party’s convention slated for February 26 should be punished.

In a statement on Sunday, Lukman said some party leaders are abusing the trust of members because President Muhammadu Buhari does not interfere with APC’s affairs.

The APC chieftain said because of this, it is difficult to associate the party with its founding vision of change.

“Any leader, therefore working to undermine the national convention should be sanctioned,” he said.

“Sadly, this became the license for party leaders to abuse the trust of both the president and majority of party leaders and members.

“Overtime, this has damaged the profile of the APC to the point whereby, based on the conduct of leaders and some elected representatives of the party, it is difficult to associate the APC with its founding vision of change.

“Problems of intolerance to disagreements and criticisms, with some leaders expecting members to be blindly loyal, is becoming a common attribute.”

Lukman said the tendency to disrespect decisions of the party or even the president is high in the APC currently.

“This reality is very disturbing. APC today, wasn’t the APC of the period 2013 to 2015. Perhaps outside President Buhari, there are very few elected leaders in APC who are still committed to the founding vision of the party to provide leadership to change Nigerian politics,” he said.

“Given where the nation is coming from, under PDP, changing Nigerian politics would require departure from requiring citizens to be blindly loyal to elected leaders.

“It should require that citizens and party members are free to disagree and criticise elected leaders.”