President, APC risk losing power in 2027, Lukman warns

Former Director-General of the Progressive Governors Forum (PGF), Dr. Salihu Lukman, has warned that President Bola Tinubu risks losing re-election in 2027 unless he sanitises the All Progressives Congress (APC).

In a piece, titled: “APC: The Inconvenient Reality,” he argued that it behoves relevant leaders to restore constitutional order and return the party to its founding vision as a progressive platform to salvage the situation.

The immediate past National Vice Chairman (North West) of the ruling party insisted that nothing had changed since the emergence of Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje as national chairman.

He listed alleged infractions by the top echelon of the party to include zoning of the national chair from North-Central to North-West, refusal to convene meeting of the National Advisory Council, non-determination of tenure of the Ganduje-led National Working Committee (NWC) and absence of internal democracy within the political platform.

Lukman noted: “With the way, party leaders and members seemed to be pushed into accepting decisions of President Asiwaju (Bola) Tinubu with hardly any resistance even when incidences of unfairness against members and sections of the country are obvious, portends both personal risk for President Asiwaju (Bola) Tinubu, as well as obvious political consequences for the APC as a political party.”

“It portends personal risk for President Asiwaju (Bola) Tinubu because if not moderated, he may overreach himself and end up producing the circumstances that would lead to his defeat in 2027. Political consequences for the APC largely because once we are out of power, all the privileges associated with being a ruling party will be lost.

“In any case, how can we renew the hope of Nigerians if we can not respect our rules? Not respecting our rules simply means inability to renew the hope of APC members about guaranteeing that both President Asiwaju Tinubu and Dr. Ganduje would abide by the provisions of the APC constitution and return the APC to its founding vision of being a progressive party.

“Once we fail to renew the hope of APC members, the hope of Nigerians can only be imagined. Therefore, it must be unequivocally stated that getting President Asiwaju Tinubu to succeed is not about repeating the rhetoric of renewed hope.”