…Insists party needs increased accountability to function stronger
From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Salihu Moh Lukman, has claimed that the performance of the ruling party, in every respect, has not presented any harmonised vision of development.
Lukman noted in the statement he issued in Abuja on Thursday that his party has failed in its scorecard with respect to probable ideological commitment to social democracy since winning elections in 2015.
He explained that immediately after winning the 2015 general election, APC began to move away from its orientation of working as an organised group, holding meetings, debating issues, and taking decisions accordingly.
The party’s former National Vice Chairman North-West argued that the reality on ground is that experiences since 2015 highlighted wide gap or weak commitment to the founding vision of the APC.
“Without being academic, performances of APC, in every respect, has not presented any harmonised vision of development. It is a very disturbing reality that there is no common policy thread connecting governments produced by the APC at all levels since 2015.
“Noting that during the merger negotiations of 2012/2013, which produced the APC, the ideological thrust or proposition was oriented around social democracy, based on commitment to values of collective justice and individual freedom where citizen’s basic needs are expected to be met – food, shelter, healthcare, education, and the ability to actualise human capacities and endowment.
“Having succeeded in winning elections, what is APC’s scorecard with respect to probable ideological commitment to social democracy? The reality is that experiences since 2015 highlighted wide gap or weak commitment to the founding vision of the APC.
“Without prejudice to some initiatives, such as social investment programme, anchor borrower, etc., which could be estimated to correspond to social democratic principles, the reality is that poor management of implementation have weakened impact,” Lukman argued.
While accessing his party further, he noted that; “Against the backdrop of 16 years of poor delivery of public services during the tenure of PDP between 1999 and 2015, the expectation of Nigerians is that APC, being an envisioned progressive party, elected leaders produced by the APC will change that and put the country on the pedestal of good governance.
“Integral to good governance is increased accountability based on which elected representatives produced by the APC are expected to be more responsive and representative to the interests of Nigerians.
“Increased accountability requires the existence of functionally stronger political party. Prior to the emergence of the APC, virtually all political parties in Nigeria, including the PDP and the opposition parties that merged to form the APC were simply election platforms.
“Being election platforms, issues of vision and commitment to ideology as could have been outlined in the manifesto of political parties is simply non-existent. With such reality, culture of impunity and corruption became rampant, and Nigerians were highly contemptuous of political leaders in the country.
“Largely on account of widespread abuse of office, which is highly manifested by the sad incidences of elected leaders converting public resources to personal wealth, capacity of governments at all levels to spearhead national development shrunk.
“The emergence of APC raised the hopes of Nigerians about potentials for change. Coming with the slogan CHANGE, part of also what justified the confidence of Nigerians that APC will produce a paradigm shift in Nigerian politics and governance was that the internal debate within the party during the merger negotiations aggregated national debate.
“Decisions taken by leaders of the party, at least up to 2015 when the party won the general elections and formed the Federal Government under the leadership of former President Muhammadu Buhari could be adjudged to be representative of the wider interests of Nigerians.
“In many respects, the manifesto of the party and all the campaign promises before the 2015 general elections resonated with the aspirations of Nigerians. Expectedly and undisputedly, Nigerians voted for the APC in 2015.
“Immediately after winning the 2015 elections, the APC began to move away from its orientation of working as an organised group, holding meetings, debating issues, and taking decisions accordingly.
“Perhaps, largely on account of the towering political profile of former President Buhari, whose popularity especially in the Northern part of the country was the major electoral strength of APC, substantially contributing to the electoral victory of the party, gradually and systematically decisions and initiatives towards managing the APC government began to be personalised,” Lukman highlighted in his statement.