ABUJA – Mohammed Salihu Lukman, the Director General of the Progressive Governors Forum (PGF), has tendered his resignation to the Forum.
His resignation on Monday came barely 24 hours after the governors of the All Progressives Congress (APC) met at the Kebbi State Governor’s Lodge on Sunday night.
Attempts to get the reaction of the PGF director-general were unsuccessful as at the time of filling this report.
According to Leadership the decision to ease Lukman of office, with resignation as soft landing, may have been reached at the meeting of the APC governors who were said to have been divided over his fate.
A source at the meeting hinted that the governors discussed the hard stance of Lukman on the party’s leadership which he had been criticising of recent over refusal to hold the party’s national convention.
Four days ago, Mr. Lukman warned the Mai Mala Buni-led Caretaker Committee of the ruling party, that delaying the convention beyond February date would further weaken the chances of the ruling party to win future elections.
He asked the Buni committee to stop claiming that it was waiting for the meeting of Progressive Governors Forum before taking “all the necessary decisions to commence the process of organising the Convention.
“Such a claim is not only dishonest but also taking the support of Progressive Governors for granted, which is why Progressive Governors have been reduced to punching bags of all party members regarding all the challenges facing the party,” he noted.
In a statement he issued on Thursday, Lukman pointedly stated that the national caretaker committee would be demonstrating that its “new objective is probably to take APC to its political grave” if it shifts the national convention again, adding that “this should not be acceptable!”
He stated: “Unless the CECPC has given itself the new responsibility of being the political and electoral undertaker of the APC, it must stop promoting some subversive campaigns suggesting that it is undertaking ‘the immediate task of addressing contestations within the Party, litigations, fallouts of recently conducted Congresses and generally reposition the Party ahead of the National Convention.’
“The more the party continues to allow the leadership of the CECPC to continue to hold everyone captive and refuse to commence the process of organising the February APC National Convention, the more party leaders would have supported the CECPC in weakening the electoral prospect of the APC. Largely on account of delaying the implementation of decision to organise the February APC National Convention, there is hardly any internal party preparation for the 2023 electoral contest beyond individual leaders declaring their personal aspirations for offices.
