Salihu Mohd Lukman, member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) National Working Committee (NWC) has dragged Senators Abdullahi Adamu, Iyiola Omisore, respectively National Chairman and Secretary of the party over serial abuse of the constitution of the party.
Also included in the notice of summon filed on behalf of Lukman by his Counsel Mohammed Kabir Abdullahi is the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) which has the statutory responsibility to supervise the activities of the political parties.
Recall that Lukman had recently given the APC leadership under Senator Adamu 7-days to comply with the provisions of the party’s constitution of the party among them to summon the NEC of party to take crucial decisions ahead of the inauguration of the new APC government and make informed impute on leadership question of the 10th Assembly.
In the court papers made available to reporters , Lukman noted that the various provisions of the constitution of the party have been serially abused by the APC leadership and this is despite reminders and rebukes sent to the APC national chairman by well-meaning members and officers of the party
Listing the various abuses perpetrated by the APC leaders Lukman prayed the court to order them to comply with the constitution of the party to among other things, summon the NEC of the party.
He sought an order of the Court “mandating”/directing the 1st, 2nd and 3rd respondents to immediately call for or cause to be called and held the National Executive Committee of the APC for purpose of activities of the Party from the date of the last NEC Meet held on 28tt April 2022 to the last meeting of the Nat Committee which held on 1 7 th April 2023.
“AN ORDER mandating/directing the 1st, 2nd and 3rd immediately call for or cause to be called and held the National Executive Committee of the APC for the purpose of proposed guidelines and regulations governing the conduct to the Party offices at all levels and procedure for candidates for elective offices, including the selection o
In a cover letter notifying President Mohammadu Buhari of the impending legal action, Lukman said he has no choice but to compel action towards restoring the sanctity of the party’s constitution.
Lukman said he has a responsibility as a strong advocate of the principles that led to the merger that midwife APC as a political party.
The letter titled ” Restoring Constitutional Order in APC – Not Negotiable”, Lukman maintained that his previous letter to Adamu which was copied the C-In-C, made nine demands which were unfortunately, not met .
“The letter made nine demands seeking immediate compliance with the provisions of our party’s constitution bordering on accountability. The nineth demand sought demonstration of commitment to restore constitutional order in party through commencement of actions, inclusive of convening meeting of the National Working Committee (NWC) within two weeks from April 5, 2023.
“On the expiration of the two weeks and action taken to demonstrate any commitment to restore constitutional order within the party, on April 19, 2023, | wrote an open letter to Sen. Adamu with the subject “Restoring Constitutional Order in APC – Not Negotiable”, wherein | gave another one week within which steps should be taken to convene a meeting of our party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) before May 29, 2023.
” The seven days has expired on April 26, 2023 and, again, there is no indication of any action being taken to convene a meeting of NEC. The NWC is yet to meet on any of the issues raised.
“I have therefore proceeded to institute a legal action, seeking to compel Sen. Abdullahi Adamu and Sen. lyiola Omisore being respectively APC National Chairman and National Secretary to compel them to comply with the requirements of running affairs of the party as enshrined in the provisions of the APC constitution. Find attached the “Originating Summons”.
“Your Excellency, as things are, | am painfully left with no option. It is quite disheartening that under the leadership of HE Sen. Abdullahi Adamu, we are failing to abide by the provisions our party’s constitution and the party is being managed based on discretionary decisions of Sen. Adamu and Sen. Omisore. Basic requirements for accountability as enshrined in the party’s constitution are being violated. This is very unfortunate
“Certainly, this is not the vision that produced the APC. If anything, our inability to comply with provisions of our party’s constitution under the leadership of HE Adamu represents betrayal of trust and the confidence reposed in us as members of the National Working Committee individually and collectively. Given the high confidence you had in HE Sen. Abdullahi Adamu, which made you to nominate him to emerge as the National Chairman of our party, the least one would expect is that he will conduct himself” he said.
