A former member of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Salihu Moh. Lukman has advised the minister of Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike to back down and live with consequences of supporting Siminalayi Fubara as Rivers state governor in the interest of the people of the state.
He also called on the ruling APC to take responsibility by not indulging the minister any further.
Lukman spoke in Abuja on Sunday, December 17, with newsmen ahead of the public presentation of his book “APC and Transition Politics” billed for Tuesday in Abuja.
The former National Vice Chairman (North West) of the governing party said all lovers of democracy should appeal to the minister, lamenting that the state is no longer talking about governance but individual interest.
He said: “We must appeal to Wike if for whatever reason he makes the choice he made to support Siminalayi Fubara as the Governor, he must take responsibility and live with the consequences and find a way to swallow the bitter pills. Because we are not talking about governance now.
“The more he mismanaged his relationship with Fubara, those that will be receiving the short end of the stick are the people of Rivers State. This is not going to happen at the expense of governance. You can see based on the street fight you can see an “arrangement” has been made, Fubara presented a budget in less than 24 hours the Assembly passed it. This is not democracy anymore.
“Leadership is about taking full responsibility, sometimes denying yourself. Is like as a father not every day I sit down here and watch things happening and say I am happy. Sometimes, I have to just swallow things so that other people in the family remain happy even when I am not happy myself. That is what I expect from Fubara and Wike and even from our party so that the people of Rivers State will be happy. Sadly, this is happening at the beginning of a tenure.
“If this democracy is to move this country forward, we need leaders who will make the needed sacrifices so that citizens can be happy. Not to go on street fighting simply because you disagree with yourselves.”
When asked to explain further on his call on the ruling party not to indulge the minister, the former Director General of the Progressive Governors’ Forum (PGF) said the party’s decision to dissolve all the structures of the party in the state, was a move to pave way for Wike to have undue advantage.
He said: “I think we should take responsibility in some ways because perhaps if as leaders of the party, we didn’t indulge Wike the way we did, he would have managed his relationship back in Rivers with the governor and other political leaders better
“You are witnesses, I am sure when the Caretaker Committee came to pay the courtesy visit to the national chairman and shortly after that the national vice chairman South-south led APC leaders from that state to visit Wike and after that without any local problem in Rivers state the National Working Committee sat down and dissolved all structures of APC to open the door for Wike to come into the party. So, I mean you just give him license to say you are welcome whatever you do we accept it. That is what I mean by indulgence and I don’t think we should reduce politics further.”