Director-General of the Progressive Governors Forum PGF, Salihu Mohammed Lukman, has asked the leadership of his ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, to embark on genuine reconciliation of its leaders and a deliberate healing process among all its structures, if it must succeed in the task of ensuring national unity and cohesion.
The Progressive Governors Forum is a platform of all governors in the APC.
Lukman, who recently unveiled his book, “Power of Possibility and Politics of Change in Nigeria,” gave the advice in an exclusive chat with Vanguard in Abuja.
The book, which attempts to present some exploratory arguments based on records of events, also offers a wide range of recommendations for the ruling party to avoid the pitfalls that sounded the death knell of its predecessor, the now opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
According to him, while Nigeria has always emerged divided after crucial elections, there has been no deliberate effort at healing the nation and reconciling leaders, even within the ruling party at any given time.
He said: “Elections will always come with conflict. So, the party must have the capacity to address all conflicting situation and it is a function of leadership. The leaders must develop that skill.
”We are lucky we have Adams who is one of the best negotiators and mediators that this country has produced and we are appealing to him to deploy that gift.
“Our leaders must prioritize the issue of reconciliation. First, they must reconcile themselves. APC leaders, the NWC, must reconcile with themselves. If they do that, it may be the beginning of the process of national reconciliation.
Conflict resolution mechanisms
“While it will be defeatist to continue to explain the nation’s political realities based on the role of PDP and how its tenure relied on falsehood founded on language of abuses, vulgarity and hate, the regime of the All Progressives Congress, APC, will be producing new sets of lies if it is unable to take specific steps to terminate the life of falsehoods in the body politic.
“For instance, is it possible for a party to remain electorally strong without an internal mechanism for dispute settlement and conflict resolution? Can a political party afford to ignore its leading stakeholders and move to decimate them on account of considered acts of intransigence? Can we even justify any claim as to whether the emergence of APC and its electoral victory in 2015, means that associated issues of authoritarian party leadership, unaccountable management, and alienated membership have been resolved?
“It will be delusional to imagine that APC, in its five years of existence has succeeded in resolving all the party management problems created during the 16 years tenure of PDP. Part of the necessary steps required to terminate the life of all falsehoods associated with party management will be the humility of party leadership to be able to accept its weaknesses and shortcomings and acknowledge that errors have been committed and take responsibility to correct them. As part of discharging such responsibility, viable and enduring reconciliatory processes need to be developed”, he added.
He added that some events in the APC surrounding the 2019 elections, especially after the primaries, presented disturbing realities. “In particular, situations in Imo, Ogun, Rivers and Zamfara states were, to say the least, unfortunate.”
Lukman was however emphatic that the strong currents of disputes in the party reflect the fact that there were contests unlike in the past when the president of the national chairman of a ruling party could just impose their positions on party members.
“In many respects, it could be argued that there was more tolerance of dissenting views in the APC than it was under PDP. On account of such liberal atmosphere, the powers of the governors over party affairs are being contested,” he submitted.
Insecurity: Northern Govs To Tackle Almajiri System
North, Northern governors, Almajiri system, governor of Zamfara State-Bello Matawalle, Ruga Settlement, Presidential Policy Retreat-Presidential Villa-Abuja, chairman of the Northern Governors Forum-Simon Lalong, Governor of Katsina (Aminu Masari), President Muhammadu Buhari-(PMB), Federal Executive Council-FEC, Zamfara State-Governor Bello Matawalle
In a bid to tackle insecurity in the North, the 19 Northern governors have planned to organize a summit on the Almajiri system of education in the zone.
This is even as governor of Zamfara State, Bello Matawalle, said his administration would go ahead with the Ruga Settlement initiated by the Ministry of Agriculture to tackle herders /farmers conflict.
Speaking to State House correspondents after a two-day Presidential Policy Retreat at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, weekend, chairman of the Northern Governors Forum, Simon Lalong, said one of the issues that dominated discussions at the retreat was how to tackle insecurity.
Lalong, who is the governor of Plateau State, said the northern governors were also planning to organize an economic summit, with the aim of securing the zone economically as well as tackle the challenges of insecurity in the zone.
He said: “One of the most important things I am taking away from the retreat is tackling insecurity. I had mentioned here that when I was elected as the chairman of Northern Governors Forum, I said my priority is security.
“So, part of the lectures, we discussed how to tackle insecurity as presented by the Inspector- General of Police, with a lot of contributions.
“The second aspect is education. We mentioned to the President the Almajiri system. So these were the things that all of us have taken in and very soon, I will convene the northern summit for us to collectively discuss because at the Northern Governors Forum, I have already set up a committee chaired by the Governor of Katsina (Aminu Masari) to look at generally insecurity in the North.
“We also set up another committee to look at education in the North and then the prospect of an economic summit for North. So, these are three things which we are working on.
“We gained a lot that is why many of us were here from morning to night discussing with Mr President and I can see the determination because it’s a way of moving forward.”
He said the retreat was organized by the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, and President Muhammadu Buhari to prepare the President for the inauguration of his Federal Executive Council, FEC, members.
He said: “Many of us are also going to copy the same and take it home as many of us have not even set up our cabinets. So we are also going to do the same and transfer it to our various states.”
On the political will to implement the resolutions of the retreat and other policies, the governor said it was the reason the party set up the retreat.
“I think this is the first time the party is bringing this initiative. They provided the platform and said, Mr President, let us prepare you for your executive and you monitor the implementation and the party said let all the governors come and learn, we are here and we have learned,” he said.
He said that the governors will continue to push for the implementation of the resolution of the retreat at the FEC and the National Economic Council, NEC.
He said: “It is not our duty but we are also heads of our state, therefore, once Mr. President pulls in trigger, we will support him and we will also replicate it in our various states.”
On what he will do differently on security in Plateau State in his second term in office, Lalong said: ”I have said this on several occasions that Plateau is one state that went into insecurity when there was serious insecurity but now in Plateau, we have relative peace.
“My state is not one of those that are engulfed in crisis right now. But with this and some of the issues that were raised, I am going to add some of the knowledge I gained to the current method and also the process I have set in place to ensure we have peace in Plateau State.”
Also fielding questions on what should be expected in terms of agricultural transformation in Zamfara State, Governor Bello Matawalle said: “In Zamfara, we will adopt Ruga in our strategy to address the herders/farmers crisis; it is a developmental project on ranching and we are ready for it.”
