Salihu Mohammed Lukman, the National Vice Chairman (North West) of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has spoken out against the party’s National Chairman, Abdullahi Adamu, stating that he does not possess the constitutional authority to expel him.
POLITICS NIGERIA reports that Lukman had taken legal action against the APC, Adamu and the party’s National Secretary, Iyiola Omisore, for their failure to convene the National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting for a prolonged period.
He requested the Federal High Court to compel them to hold the meeting and submit a report of all party-related activities, including finances, from 2022 to the present.
However, on Sunday, the APC legal adviser, Ahmad Usman El- Marzuq Esq., wrote a letter to Adamu, urging him to expel Lukman for taking legal action against the party on what he described as an internal affair.
In response to the request, Lukman wrote a letter to Adamu on Monday, which he also sent to President Muhammadu Buhari, APC governors, President-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and others.
He stated that the NWC does not possess the power to expel him and emphasized that he would not withdraw his case from the court, even if he were expelled.
The letter reads in part, “There is nowhere in the APC constitution where the NWC is given the power to discipline any member of the party. I have already forwarded the memo to my legal team for further legal action.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the suit in question, which is being alleged to constitute anti-party activity will have to go ahead, especially to correct the erroneous interpretation of the Constitution by the National Legal Adviser to the effect that ‘it is not mandatory to convene a meeting of the National Executive Committee every quarter for the purpose of presenting activities of the Party to the members of NEC.’
“Nobody, no matter how highly placed in the leadership of the party should be allowed to destroy the APC by blocking our organs, notably National Advisory Council (NAC), National Caucus, and NEC from holding statutory meetings as required by the Party’s Constitution.
“While looking forward to robust deliberations at the Wednesday’s meeting of NWC, it is my hope that one of the resolutions of the NWC will be to convene a meeting of NEC before May 29, 2023 where all the demands I have made including reports of activity, financial report covering income and expenditure of the party, zoning for National Assembly leadership, review of 2023 elections, among others can be considered and appropriate decisions taken.”
