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The ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) is immersed in a new crisis caused by the alleged lack of financial transparency of the party’s president, Abdulahi Adamu, according to a letter obtained by PREMIUM TIMES.
Salihu Lukman, vice-president (Northwest) of the party, in a letter dated April 27 to President Muhammadu Buhari, said that he filed a case against Mr. Adamu and the national secretary, Iyiola Omisore, in the Abuja Federal High Court. . on the matter.
The letter was sent with a copy to the president-elect, Bola Tinubu, the Progressive Governors Forum (PGF) and the members of the National Work Committee (NWC).
In the letter, Lukman accused the duo of running the party with discretionary power without recourse to NWC members. He pointed out that the actions of the two officials contravene the party’s constitution.
“Your Excellency, as things stand, I am painfully left with no choice. It is quite disheartening that under the leadership of HE Senator Abdullahi Adamu, we are flouting the provisions of our party constitution and the party is being run based on the discretionary decisions of Senator Adam and Senator Omisore.
“The basic requirements for accountability enshrined in the party constitution are being violated,” he said.
Mr. Lukman further claimed that the national president has betrayed the trust of Mr. Buhari, who nominated him for the post.
He said that he had explored all means available to get Messrs. Adamu and Omisore to comply with APC’s charter on financial disclosure, but the two had refused to act.
“This is very unfortunate. This is certainly not the vision that the APC produced. In any case, our inability to comply with the provisions of our party constitution under the leadership of HE Senator Abdullahi Adamu represents a betrayal of trust and trust placed in us as members of the National Labor Committee individually and collectively.
“Given the great trust placed in HE by Senator Abdullahi Adamu, who had him nominated to emerge as our party’s national chairman, the least one would expect is that he will conduct himself strictly to the requirements set out 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 responders respectively.
Mr. Lukman is seeking seven reliefs from the court, chief among which is for Messrs. Adamu and Omisore to call a meeting of the NWC and release the party’s financial records.
The complaint seeks, “A STATEMENT that under the provisions of Articles 13.4 (II) and 25.2 of the APC Constitution, Defendants 1, 2 and 3 are required to call or cause to be called and held quarterly or at the request of one-third of the members of the APC National Executive Committee (“NEC”) the meeting of the APC National Executive Committee at which Defendants will submit quarterly reports containing APC’s activities to the members of the National Executive Committee.
“A DECLARATION that pursuant to the provisions of Article 13.4 (vi) and 25.2 of the APC Constitution, the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Defendants have the obligation to convene or cause to be convened and held quarterly or at the request of one-third of the members of the APC National Executive Committee (“NEC”) the meeting of the APC National Executive Committee at which Defendants will present the proposed guidelines and regulations governing the conduct of elections to Party offices in all the levels, and the procedure for the selection of Party candidates for elective offices, including the selection and zoning of the leadership of the National Assembly to the members of the National Executive Committee”.
Lukman’s fight with Adamu Omisore
Lukman had last month called on Adamu to resign to pave the way for a Christian politician to emerge as national president to ensure religious balance in the party, as Tinubu and his deputy, Kashim Shettima, are Muslims.
He also called for the resignation of Mr. Omisore over the APC’s failure in the 2022 gubernatorial election in Osun State.
Furthermore, Mr. Lukman, during an interview on AIT on Tuesday, alleged that Mr. Omisore was given money for the prosecution of the Osun elections, but the national secretary has yet to account for the money.
Then-governor and CPA candidate Gboyega Oyetola lost the election to Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) candidate Ademola Adeleke. Since then, Adeleke has been sworn in.
Lukman said APC provided campaign funds to Omisore, the state’s former lieutenant governor, but mishandled them.
However, Omisore has denied the accusation and demanded a public apology and payment of 500 million naira in damages.
The national secretary, in a letter, through his lawyer, Gboyega Oyewole, dated March 15, said that Mr. Lukman’s statement is false because the party did not give him money for the elections.