Mallam Salihu Lukman, the National Vice Chairman (North-West) of the All Progressives Congress, has called for a leadership change in the ruling party to balance the controversial Muslim-Muslim ticket of President-elect Bola Tinubu. In a statement titled “APC Internal Dynamics and the Future of Democracy,” Lukman urged the resignation of Senator Abdullahi Adamu, the party’s National Chairman, to make way for a Christian leader.
He also demanded the removal of Iyiola Omisore, the APC National Secretary, to appease party supporters in Osun. Lukman previously appealed to Tinubu to prioritize the party’s internal reform, and he reiterated his stance that a leadership change is necessary to address the issue of the Muslim-Muslim ticket. He warned that the party must manage this religious ticket properly to prevent deepening the division among Nigerians.
According to his statement, Lukman noted that, “Now that the election is won by APC and Asiwaju, it is important to demonstrate that the Muslim-Muslim ticket of the president-elect and Shettima is simply an electoral strategy. With a National Chairman, Sen. Abdullahi Adamu, who is also a Muslim, it will be important that every necessary step is taken to inject a change of leadership for the party so that a new National Chairman who is a Christian to take over. Part of the advantage of this is that the National Chairman could be retained in North-Central.
“There should be no difficulty in convincing Sen. Adamu to resign as National Chairman to create opportunity for a new National Chairman of APC to emerge who is a Christian. For that to happen may require Emergency National Convention because if the hierarchy of the current leadership is to be followed, the successor to Sen. Adamu will be Sen. Abubakar Kyari who is a Muslim from North-East.
“Apart from changing the National Chairman, there is the need to also recognise that the case of Sen. Iyiola Omisore, National Secretary of the party has become a source of stronger dispute in Osun State. Unfortunately, rather than serving as a unifying factor for the party leadership in Osun State, Sen. Omisore is more of a divisive factor, which may have been responsible for why APC lost the 2022 Governorship election to a political mediocre whose only qualification in politics may appear to be comic dancing skill.
“To save Osun State and bring it back to its old standard of national political reckoning, Sen. Omisore would need to resign as National Secretary of APC, and a new unifying National Secretary elected. Beyond Sen. Omisore, similarly, any member of the National Working Committee of the party who is not a unifying leader in his/her state should be changed,” he stated.
The reticent politician elaborated that the ruling APC and Tinubu had to adopt a Muslim-Muslim ticket as an electoral strategy, and Nigerians have now come to accept and understand this decision.
He also noted that it was not surprising that the opposition parties, including the Peoples Democratic Party, Labour Party, and New Nigeria Peoples Party, used this issue to mobilize Nigerians against the APC during the campaign season.
“Given the divisive campaigns sponsored by opposition parties, especially around the Muslim-Muslim ticket of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and Sen. Kashim Shettima, now President-elect and Vice President-elect, APC needs to demonstrate that the politics of uniting Nigerians require unconventional approaches, which goes beyond simple recognition of the dominant groups in Nigerian politics. Over the years, issues of representation in Nigeria were skewed in favour of the three major ethnic groups – Hausa/Fulanis, Yorubas and Igbos. Other groups were relegated to secondary players. Lukman stated
“The big question is whether the choice of a Muslim-Muslim ticket with Sen. Shettima as Tinubu running mate was deliberately designed to broaden the scope of political participation and representation in the country. While acknowledging that it may not have started as a deliberate plan to broaden political participation or representation, it will be important to recognise that it highlights the political ingenuity and capacity of Asiwaju to courageously make a choice that deviate from conventional politics to win the support of citizens.”
