Salihu Lukman, the All Progressives Congress’ National Vice Chairman for the North West, has responded to calls for his ouster from the ruling party.
Earlier, Ahmad Usman El-Marzuq, the party’s national legal adviser, had called for Lukman’s expulsion in a letter, WITHIN NIGERIA reported.
After Lukman decided to sue Abdullahi Adamu, the National Chairman, and Iyiola Omisore, the National Secretary, El-Marzuq made the call.
Recall that Lukman filed a suit at the Federal High Court in Abuja through his counsel, Mohammed Abdullahi over Adamu’s failure to convene a meeting of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party as mandated by its Constitution.
Lukman had given Adamu a 7-day ultimatum to convene an NEC meeting where he would provide a financial account of the party.
El-Marzuq, however, in his letter dated April 28th, 2023, said Lukman should be expelled for taking legal action against the party, arguing that the matter is strictly an internal affair of the party.
The APC legal adviser said, “A cursory look at Article 25.2 (i) of the party’s constitution would reveal that it is not mandatory to convene a meeting of the NEC every quarter as postulated by the plaintiff; rather it is at the discretion of the NWC or the request in writing by one-third of the members of the NEC.”
Lukman in his reaction to the call for his expulsion from the party said he hopes the move would be discussed at the National Working Committee (NWC) meeting of the party.
The APC Vice Chairman in a chat with Daily Trust promised to react at the appropriate time.
Lukman, speaking on the move, said, “My simple reaction is that I hope this will be tabled at the NWC meeting because it’s only then it will become a threat; for now, the memo is just an opinion of the legal adviser, but I will react to it at the appropriate time.