Former National Vice Chairman, Northwest, of the ruling All Progressives Congress APC, Salihu Moh. Lukman has called on former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Ibrahim Babangida as well as retired General Aliyu Gusau to innovate strategies that could displace the APC from power in 2027, saying Nigerians are currently facing an existential crisis because the nation’s democracy is in the Intensive Care Unit, ICU.
Lukman in a statement issued Tuesday, September 17, 2024 in Abuja was reacting to media reports of Sunday’s meeting of the trio in Minna, Niger state.
Recalling how on August 13, 2024, the National Council of State had met and passed a vote of confidence on President Bola Tinubu, Lukman said the absence of Obasanjo and Babangida may not have been a coincidence and wondered whether Sunday’s meeting in Minna suggests registering any form of disagreement with the confidence vote passed on Tinubu on August 13.
He said although Obasanjo and Babangida’s interventions in the polity may have in one way or the other contributed to getting Nigeria to its current messy situation, they owe it a duty to Nigerians to bring back the country from the ICU.
“For instance, the political practices that are responsible for the erosion of political competition in political parties in Nigeria could be traceable to the tenure of former President Obasanjo. The policy of Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) under former Military President Babangida could have been the source of inspiration for President Asiwaju Tinubu’s impulsive and unplanned policies. Although, to be fair to former Military President Babangida, to use Chidi Amuta’s words he ‘balanced compassion and hard policy choices.’
To the extent of contributing to get Nigeria to the current messy situation, these leaders owe a responsibility to the nation to take it out of the ICU. Getting Nigerian democracy out of ICU is a function of ability to revive, restore and strengthen democratic structures in the country, which is dependent on ability to create at least a functional political party that would allow for political competition within its structures and by extension in the country.
“Therefore, if former President Obasanjo, former Military President Babangida, former Head of State Abdulsalam and retired General Gusau are truly committed to rescuing Nigerian democracy and get it out of ICU, they should facilitate a deeper engagement of opposition political leaders in the country”, he stated. |SituationReport|
OBJ, IBB, Gusau Must Rescue Nigeria From ICU – Lukman
