Former National Vice Chairman, North-west of the party All Progressives Congress (APC), Salihu Lukman has called for the formation of credible platform to confront the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2027 general election
Lukman, a former Director of the APC’s Progressive Governors’ Forum, said his party has led Nigeria from one devastating crisis to another since it took over power in 2015
The Kaduna state born politician, who noted further that there is no major difference between the APC and former ruling party, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), which it defeated to form government in 2015, called on patriotic Nigerians to form another political platform to move against the re-election of President Bola Tinubu in 2027.
Lukman, who made the declaration in a statement issued Saturday, said only a platform of patriotic Nigerians who are ready to return to the trenches of democratic struggles to resume mobilisation and negotiations to move Nigerian democracy beyond the current lethargic state, can begin to provide answers to these practical questions.
He noted that negotiations to produce an alternative political platform, which could move Nigerian democracy forward must prioritise the development of a functional political party structure based on ability to answer some of these practical questions should be the consideration.
He however warned that the new platform must be guarded against to avoid the pitfalls that destroyed the APC is to shun the old opportunistic political warriors who are serial contestants and aspirants to every election since 1999.
The former director general of Progressives Governors Forum expressed his pains over the crisis of insecurity in the country today, which he said has degenerated from what it was in 2015, saying it has further deepened the economic crisis because many farmers have abandoned their farms.
Lukman noted: “Only those patriotic Nigerians who are ready to return to the trenches of democratic struggles to resume mobilisation and negotiations to move Nigerian democracy beyond the current lethargic state, can begin to provide answers to these practical questions.
“Patriotic Nigerians and democrats must resume the business of national mobilisation to produce an alternative democratic platform to APC and all the charades of registered political parties. We must summon the courage and believe in the power of possibility.
“Just like we succeeded in pushing the military back to the barracks and defeating the PDP in 2015, it is possible to create a politically viable and truly popular democratically alternative platform that can put the APC in its rightful place and overcome the current extreme right-wing adventurously unplanned leadership of President Asiwaju Tinubu.
“Nigerians must be mobilised to rise above dishonest politicians who only manipulate their way to power and reduce to citizens to the status of conquered people. Democracy will be worthless if the result is only to elect civilian overlords.”
