The chieftain of the African Democratic Congresss (ADC) Salihu Lukman, has warned that the party cannot unseat the ruling APC from power in Kaduna State going by the way the coalition party is currently being run.
Lukman appealed to the former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufa’i, and his men to retrace their steps unite with other members of the opposition party.
In a statement he issued to mark Nigeria’s 65th Independence Anniversary, Lukman noted that ADC in Kaduna State is only building a party whose business is limited to producing candidates, instead of working to build the party.
“Instead of working to build the party, we are setting ourselves to produce a party whose business will be limited to producing candidates for elections. People with no ambition to contest elections have become restless and want to dominate the process of developing the structures of the party to the exclusion of their opponents. This madness of controlling structures of ADC is the biggest threat before us. For whatever reason, those of us who want the ADC to be an equal opportunity party are being condemned.”
The ADC chieftain also berated some party leaders of taking sides with strengthening aspiring candidates for the 2027 elections across the state to the exclusion of others, instead of providing fair leadership.
“I want to use this opportunity of this independence anniversary to appeal to all of us to stop this madness of trying to take over the structures of ADC and control it to the exclusion of so-called opponents. If ADC is the emerge as a strong party capable of defeating the APC in Kaduna State, we must agree to work together. Anybody who is not ready to work as part of a united opposition in Kaduna State is consciously or unconsciously working for the APC. I am making this strong appeal with a very deep feeling of disappointment that we are recklessly mismanaging an opportunity to provide the needed leadership to our people.
“In particular, I want to appeal to Mal Nasir El-Rufai, Ja’afaru Sani and Bashir Sa’idu, as the opposition leaders in Kaduna State, to please stop encouraging the madness of aspiring candidates seeking to take over the structures of ADC to the exclusion of so-called opponents. At individual level, I have tried to talk to those I can talk to. Unfortunately, I must also admit that I have failed in many respects. The fact that we are Senator Musa Bello aggressively seeking to control the structures of ADC in Zone two is a reflection of my failure. Largely because I am, in recent times, associated with Senator Musa Bello, Sen Lawal Adamu (Mr LA) has avoided all my requests to meet him.
“In particular, I want to appeal to Mal. Nasir El-Rufai, Mal. Ja’afaru Sani and Alh. Bashir Sa’idu, as the opposition leader in Kaduna State, to please stop encouraging the madness of aspiring candidates seeking to take over the structures of ADC to the exclusion of so-called opponents. At individual level, I have tried to talk to those I can talk to. Unfortunately, I must also admit that I have failed in many respects. The fact that we have Sen. Musa Bello aggressively seeking to control the structures of ADC in Zone 2 is a reflection of my failure. Largely because I am, in recent times, associated with Sen. Musa Bello, Sen. Lawal Adamu (Mr La) has avoided all my requests to meet him. I have met Mal Ja’afaru Sani on this matter. We have had some discussions with Mallam Nasir El-Rufai. Sincerely, I am saddened by the fact that we are not united, and the perception is that I am part of the problem.
“As a citizen from Kaduna State, I am willing to make every necessary sacrifice to move our state forward . I have no ambition to contest the election. Without sounding immodest, I made every sacrifice to contribute to forming the coalition and negotiating the agreement with ADC. May I therefore, appeal to Mal Nasir El-Rufai and our leaders to please seek to unite all of us. It is only if we are united in ADC that we will be able to unite our people in the state to defeat the APC in 2027.”
