The ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) is enmeshed in a fresh crisis sparked by alleged lack of financial transparency by the Chairman of the party, Abdulahi Adamu, a letter obtained by PREMIUM TIMES revealed.
Salihu Lukman, the national vice chairman(North-west) of the party, in a letter dated 27 April and addressed to President Muhammadu Buhari, said he has filed a case against Mr Adamu and National Secretary, Iyiola Omisore, at the Federal High Court Abuja on the matter.
The letter was copied to the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, the Progressives Governors Forum(PGF) and the National Working Committee (NWC) members.
In the letter, Mr Lukman accused the duo of running the party with discretionary power without recourse to the members of the NWC. He noted that the actions of the two officials contravene the constitution of the party.
“Your Excellency, as things are, I 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 of our party’s constitution and the party is being managed based on discretionary decisions of Sen. Adam and Sen. Omisore.
“Basic requirements for accountability as enshrined in the party’s constitution are being violated,” he said.
Mr Lukman further stated that the national chairman has betrayed the trust of Mr Buhari, who nominated him for the position.
He said he had explored all available means to get Messrs Adamu and Omisore to comply with the APC constitution on financial disclosure but that the two had refused to act.
“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 Sen. Abdullahi Adamu represents a 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 strictly based on requirements as provided in the APC constitution,” he said.
Lukman’s prayers
The case with Suit number; FHC/ABJ/CS/ 573/2023, has APC, Messrs Adamu and Omisore and INEC as first, second, third and fourth respondents respectively.
Mr Lukman is seeking seven reliefs from the court, chief of which is that Messrs Adamu and Omisore should call NWC meeting and disclose the financial record of the party.
The suit seeks, “A DECLARATION that by the provisions of Articles 13.4 (II) and 25.2 of the APC Constitution, the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Defendants are under an obligation to call for or cause to be called and held quarterly or at the request of one-third of members of the National Executive Committee (“NEC’) of the APC the meeting of the National Executive Committee of the APC at which the Defendants shall present quarterly reports containing the activities of the APC to the members of the National Executive Committee.
“A DECLARATION that by the provision of Article 13.4 (vi) and 25.2 of the APC Constitution, the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Defendants are under an obligation to call for or cause to be called and held quarterly or at the request of one-third of members of the National Executive Committee (“NEC”) of the APC the meeting of the National Executive Committee of the APC at which the Defendants shall present proposed guidelines and regulations governing the conduct of elections to the Party offices at all levels, and procedure for selecting Party candidates for elective offices, including the selection and zoning of leadership of the National Assembly to the members of the National Executive Committee.”
Lukman’s fight with Adamu Omisore
Mr Lukman had last month called on Mr Adamu to resign to pave the way for a Christian politician to emerge as the national chairman in order to ensure religious balance in the party since Mr Tinubu and his deputy, Kashim Shettima, are Muslims.
He also called for the resignation of Mr Omisore over the failure of the APC at the 2022 governorship election in Osun State.
Also, Mr Lukman, during an interview on AIT on Tuesday, alleged that money was given to Mr Omisore for the prosecution of the Osun election but that the national secretary has yet to give an account of the money.
The then governor and candidate of the APC, Gboyega Oyetola, lost the election to the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ademola Adeleke. Mr Adeleke has since been sworn in.
Mr Lukman said the APC handed over funds to prosecute the campaign for the election to Mr Omisore, a former deputy governor of the state, but that he mismanaged it.
Mr Omisore has, however, denied the allegation and demanded a public apology and payment of N500 million in damages.
The national secretary, in a letter, through his lawyer, Gboyega Oyewole, dated 15 March, said the statement by Mr Lukman is false because he was not given money by the party for the election.
