Salihu Moh Lukman, a former national vice chairman (North West) of the APC, has written to ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo, urging him to mobilise past Nigerian leaders to establish a formidable political coalition.
In his letter, Lukman expressed concerns over the refusal of certain opposition figures, including three former governors, to unify under a single political platform due to their political ambitions.
Lukman, who is a former Director General of the APC’s Progressives Governors’ Forum (PGF) argued that this has undermined previous attempts to create a robust alternative to the APC.
The letter addressed to Obasanjo but also referencing other former Nigerian leaders such as General Yakubu Gowon, General Ibrahim Babangida, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, Goodluck Jonathan, and Muhammadu Buhari, emphasized the collective responsibility of past leaders in shaping the current state of the nation.
“Without resorting to blame games, whether today’s leaders of this country are made by Satan or God, all of you put together, individually and collectively, are the parents of today’s Satanic leaders of Nigeria,” Lukman stated.
He criticized the historical pattern of manipulating political successions, which he described as a recurring issue exacerbating Nigeria’s socio-economic and political crises.
According to Lukman, the practice of anointing successors has contributed to the emergence of “Satanic leaders” and deepened the nation’s challenges.
Lukman urged for a political re-engineering to produce a party capable of fostering “Godly” leadership.
He expressed frustration over the reluctance of some opposition leaders to join forces, accusing them of prioritizing personal ambitions over the collective goal of national progress.
“Already, some opposition leaders are resisting efforts to form a united political platform largely because of their subsidiary ambitions to contest elections,” Lukman lamented.
Part of the letter read: “Whether Nigeria can produce leaders with Godly genotype and not Satanic genotype depends on whether we can re-engineer our politics to produce at least one political party with potential to produce leaders with Godly genotype.
“Already, some opposition leaders are resisting efforts to form a united political platform largely because of their subsidiary ambitions to contest elections. On account of such subsidiary ambitions, some are already playing the old hegemonic games of assembly loyalists or cheerleaders.
“Three of them are former state governors. There is also a group associated with one of the legacy parties that merged to form the APC. This group is already drawing a so-called leadership lineup for an imaginary party to be formed by the opposition leaders.
“In many states, they have already chosen the so-called governorship candidates. With such an outlook, it logically means they already have their presidential candidate.”