Salihu Lukman, the national vice chairman, North West of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has challenged Iyiola Omisore, the national secretary of the Party, to proceed with his N500m libel suit instituted against him.
Recall that Omisore, through his lawyer, Gboyega Oyewole, asked Lukman to retract remarks attributed to him when the latter appeared on Africa Independent Television (AIT) programme, Jigsaw on March 14, 2023.
According to Oyewole, Lukman claimed on national television that Omisore could not account for party funds meant for Osun State election in which the Party lost to the Peoples Democratic Party.
Information Nigeria reports that both Omisore and Lukman are members of the APC National Working Committee (NWC).
However, responding in a statement made available to journalists in Abuja on Thursday, Lukman maintained his position on the alleged lack of accountability on the part of the national secretary of the Party.
Lukman, the immediate past Director-General of the Progressives Governors Forum also restated his call for the removal of the National Chairman of the party, Abdullahi Adamu and National Secretary, Senator Omisore.
According to him, since the assumption into office of the new national officers, the statutory structures of the party, the National Executive Committee and the National Caucus have been crippled by the NWC.
“Unfortunately, as things are, these structures have been frozen by our inactions as members of the National Working Committee (NWC) led by Senator Adamu and Senator Omisore.
“No meetings of these structures have taken place for almost one year. Inability to make these structures functional will weaken the capacity to regulate the conduct of party leaders and we risk creating a situation whereby challenges of inclusivity will be further compounded in the country,” Lukman said
The statement entitled, “Re: APC Internal Dynamics and Future of Democracy,” read in part: “Following the statement on the above caption, which I issued on Friday, March 10, 2023, on Tuesday, March 14, 2023, I feature on Africa Independent Television (AIT) Jigsaw, hosted by Mr Gbenga Aruleba.
“While on the show, I reiterated my call for our National Chairman, Sen. Abdullahi Adamu and National Secretary, Sen. Iyiola Omisore to vacate their position in the interest of the country, our party and as a demonstration of strong support for Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as President-elect to proceed with the business of constituting an inclusive Federal Government led by him come May 29, 2023.
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“While in the case of the National Chairman, Sen. Adamu, the call is necessitated by the need to douse ethnic and religious tension in the country because of the desperate campaigns led by PDP and LP during the Presidential election, the case of Sen. Omisore is necessitated by his inability to provide the needed leadership in Osun, which cost us the 2022 Osun Governorship election.
“I further supported my call for Sen. Omisore to vacate his position as the National Secretary with the demand for accountability around the management of campaign funds provided by the party, which was delivered through Sen. Omisore.
“In response, Sen. Omisore has sent abusive messages and requested his lawyer, Mr Gboyega Oyewole, SAN, FCArb to ask me to retract my statement, make a public apology and pay him the sum of N500 million in compensation for some alleged damages to “his character in the eyes of right-thinking Nigerians.” I received the letter from Lords & Temple, signed by Mr Oyewole, dated 15th March 2023 (the letter was wrongly 15th March 2022).
“Since Senator Omisore’s response to the request for accountability is to threaten legal action, I have also instructed my lawyers to respond appropriately to his legal threat. However, as a committed party member I insist that the challenges facing us as a party and as a nation are broadly political and limiting our actions to the courts may only distract us from initiating the correct responses to resolve the challenge of facilitating negotiations for the inclusive government under the leadership of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“I want to restate that being party leaders, we are obligated to facilitate negotiations through our structures, namely National Executive Committee (NEC) and National Caucus. Unfortunately, as things are, these structures have been frozen by our inactions as members of the National Working Committee (NWC) led by Senator Adamu and Senator Omisore. No meetings of these structures have taken place for almost one year. The inability to make these structures functional will weaken the capacity to regulate the conduct of party leaders and we risk creating a situation whereby challenges of inclusivity will be further compounded in the country. Already, individual Senators-elect and House of Representative members-elect have begun to aspire to positions of Senate President and Speaker House of Representatives in a very insensitive and reckless manner.
“May I once again remind all of us, both as leaders and APC members, that APC is a product of sacrifices and more than ever before the challenges we face today call for sacrifices? Both our National Chairman and Senator. Adamu and National Secretary, Senator Omisore must demonstrate a willingness to make sacrifices to earn the respect and followership of Senators-elect and House of Representative members-elect.
“I make this appeal respectfully and without any ill-feeling to anyone, including Senator Omisore. I stand by my position that Senator Omisore is unable to unite party leaders and members in Osun State, which is responsible for why we lost the election. He is opposed to any demand for accountability and is resorting to acts of intimidation to perhaps manipulate processes of appointment into the Asiwaju-led Federal Government. What makes democracy attractive is the requirement for accountability and Senator Omisore must be held accountable. We need to have accountable leaders in the process of negotiations to be facilitated by the party.
“Finally, after 24 years of interrupted democracy, we must not shy away from initiatives that will strengthen internal contest within our party, APC. Part of the big challenge to Nigeria’s democracy is that internal contest is being destroyed. As a result, we produced situations where some leaders act as tyrants. Anyone who expresses views that are not in harmony with the thinking of some leaders is condemned. This attitude is responsible for the destruction of the PDP as a party and is gradually being entrenched in our party. There should be a conscious effort to call these leaders to order!
“Both as party leaders and Nigerians, we must wake up to the reality that negotiation to form the next APC government under the leadership of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu must depart from the conventional approach of allowing leaders to emerge based on individual aspirations. We cannot risk any further complication of entrenchment of the existing religiously lopsided Muslim-Muslim identity of Asiwaju Tinubu and Senator Shettima. No legal threat should distract us from addressing this challenge.”
