The 2027 general elections are about two years away and the realignment of forces to dislodge the All Progressives Congress (APC) from power, especially at the federal level appears to be on the upswing.

In an interview published by Sunday Vanguard, last week, a former presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party, Adewole Adebayo, spoke about the inroads his party was making into the North in search of new political allies, hinting that the SDP leadership had met top politicians from that part of the country, including former Governor Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna State, for talks.

In another development, a former top member of the APC, Alhaji Salihu Lukman, speaks of similar efforts gathering steam. Lukman, a former Deputy National Chairman of the APC (North), in an interview monitored on Arise News, elaborates on his scheme, saying key opposition figures in the country have a role to play as they have to jettison their presidential aspirations ahead of the 2027 and provide leadership for a new political party to confront the APC.

He urges former Vice President Atiku Abubakar who flew the Peoples Democratic Party?s (PDP) presidential flag in the 2023 elections, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, LP, in the elections, Mr Peter Obi, and the New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP, standard bearer, Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso, to prioritize party building over personal ambitions.

Lukman, who has since quit the APC, also extends the advice to former party members and opposition figures, including Mr Rotimi Amaechi, a former governor of Rivers State but later served as Transportation Minister under the Buhari administration; El-Rufai; Dr. Kayode Fayemi, a former governor of Ekiti State, and Senator Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, a former governor of Sokoto State.

According to Lukman, who was also one-time Director General of the Progressive Governors Forum, if these leaders set aside personal ambitions, it will prevent the imposition of candidates in 2027 and foster a stronger political alternative. Excerpts:

You have been a key member of the APC, now you are saying Nigeria needs better leaders. What are your grievances? What do you think is wrong with the APC that you are asking all the critics and opponents of the administration to come together and push the same party out of power?

What is wrong with the APC is what is wrong with Nigeria in my view, and I think the view of most Nigerians is that our democracy should give something much better than what we have today. I am not making any new proposals.

If you have been following the debate during the merger negotiations that produced the APC, all these arguments have been raised about the kind of leadership a political party should have and what is required for a party to really position itself to direct elected representatives to meet the expectations of citizens. If we argue that APC has failed, the failure of APC is largely due to its inability to meet a number of some of those criteria.

Yes, I was a member of the NWC of the APC, I was part and parcel of the APC from formation to possibly the present day but that does not disqualify some of us from highlighting some of the limitations of the APC and I think in terms of the problem of democracy, what was first the problem of Nigeria with PDP that led to the defeat of PDP in 2015? The major issue is that there was no competition within the party.

The culture of imposition has taken over the party so much so that it is predictable anybody who has close relationship with Abuja, with the Presidency can pick ticket at any level of the party without bothering to contract relationships with other members of the party, and I think that those were some of the issues that we used to campaign against the PDP and made the APC popular and Nigerians trusted us and believed that we were capable of producing a party that could drive the process of changing Nigeria which was the campaign mantra in 2015.

Unfortunately, I am not shy to say that we failed largely because we ended up with another variant of PDP, the culture of imposition took over.

Yes, we fought and this is part of my grievance with President T?nubu. Asiwaju knew very well that we stood up and faced what you call the cabal in the Presidency under former President Buhari and ensured that a level-playing field was provided within the party which enabled him to win the ticket and become the presidential candidate of the party.

So, having done that, our expectation was that we return the party to its founding vision and begin to build a party that can now implement all the campaign promises and direct all elected representatives but instead, what we see is that a more superior variant of imposition took over so much so that the party became a parastatal of the Presidency, and of the government.

Leadership of the party cannot say anything contrary to what the President wants and so long as that is the case, we can?t make progress. Now, coming back to some of the issues which you highlighted which I raised in the last piece, is basically like an appeal to our opposition leaders (Atiku, Obi, Kwankwaso, Amaechi, Fayemi, El-Rufai, Tambuwal, among others) because if we continue to play politics the old way, then Nigeria is not going to get any better. We are not going to produce better leaders.

We will produce a new set of leaders which may continue the practice of imposition and become emperors so much so that everybody is now rushing to them to access favours in government and what have you and that is not what democracy should be about. I think one of the most important things that came out of the conference that was held last week was the statement by the former Vice President of Ghana and also a former presidential candidate.

He made the point that politicians must be able to subordinate their personal ambition to the bigger interest of the country and I think that is where we are today and, as far as I?m concerned, if that is the case and several time, I hear people lamenting about how in the Second Republic we had an NPN (National Party of Nigeria) where the president, when it comes to party meeting, is an ordinary member and Chief Augustus Akinloye, who was the party Chairman, was the leader of the party.

Now if we are going to get back to that, it?s not going to be after the election and after defeating T?nubu and producing a president with that mentality. It?s now that we should begin to align ourselves and ensure that in the whole campaign to defeat APC, we are not replicating exactly the mistake APC has made.

We must tell all leaders to first drop their ambitions and, in dropping their ambitions they must also be ready to make the needed sacrifice, to commit to building the party. If your strategy is all about let?s have a party and, after having a party we will ensure that we impose our surrogates to become leaders of the party, then we are going back to square one.

I think Nigerians should begin to watch and when they see some of these leaders taking positions in the party, that should give them confidence that, yes this is a new party and it?s a serious business. It is going to depart from the old ways and to that extent, therefore, the prospect of meeting the expectation of citizens will be high; other than that, I think we may just be deceiving ourselves and Nigerians and imagining that we can produce anything better.

You?re talking about how the previous or past leaders are part of the problems that we currently have and why those responsible for the failures should be humble enough to take a backseat in an effort to build a strong coalition to strengthen Nigerian politics. What if they are not ready to take a back seat, what other alternative would you propose?

First, I will say that it?s not a question of trying to get rid of the old guards, no. I think, fundamentally, my view and I have said that, several times, that what we have now made it only possible for leaders to show their bad side and that the only way to push leaders to put their best side, their right foot in the business of leadership will be to create the framework, strengthen the structures of political parties that will subordinate them and make them accountable.

I have said so several times that from former president Jonathan to Buhari and now T?nubu, I believe under a different condition they may turn out to be better leaders. Unfortunately, they also contribute to a situation where they turn out the way they did. So, if we are going to depart from that, which is why I?m saying, first and foremost, we must build a political party that everybody will subordinate themselves.

It?s possible. I give you for instance, if Atiku Abubakar, Rabiu Kwankwaso, Peter Obi, Rotimi Amaechi, and many others can subordinate themselves and go through competitive primary? because part of the problem, is that a number of them, were not able to develop the kind of relationship that will enable them to access even good advice, you know, the strategy is basically that I want you to subordinate yourself to me but once you turn it the other way around they may turn out to be better leaders.

Sincerely speaking, I think we should not beg the question; Nigeria deserves much better and current leaders must answer the question: What is their vision for the country? Is their vision for the country only to become president of Nigeria? We have seen that with Buhari and we have seen it now with T?nubu.

They have become presidents, they have achieved their vision and, in the end, it?s debatable whether they are any better in terms of public standing. My appeal and my prayer is that within our lifetime we?ll be able to produce leaders who will work for the country, and on the basis that citizens who love them, and generations to come will continue to remember them.

But you knew that President T?nubu had the conviction of ?I just want to be president? when you supported the APC in the last election. Now you are talking about idealism, would you expect anything different from him?

Well, I will continue to debate all these issues. Yes, I supported President T?nubu; however, whether I am aware his ambition was just to become president, I can say publicly that I had the conviction that T?nubu is truly a progressive politician and a democrat and which was why I invested my support for him but I didn?t wait once I saw he was departing from those beliefs I had; I didn?t wait any longer and I was not pushed by anybody.

In fact, if anything, most of the criticism I received today is people telling me that it?s a mistake for me to have resigned, that I should have waited to fight inside. I mean, I could have only waited to compromise myself and become part of the establishment and become part of the physical structure of APC and, at the end of the day, damage myself.

I am humble enough to admit that yes, my judgment was wrong and I said it?s a challenge to President T?nubu to prove many of us wrong and if he did that, I will be the first to come out and apologize publicly and say again I was wrong, but to the extent that he continues arrogantly in the direction he?s going without remorse, that he has departed from all the promises he has made to Nigerians, I have no apology to him.

I?ll continue to stand and campaign against both the APC and its administration but in doing that, which leads me to your second question, life is about making choices.

I will not shy away from making a choice simply because I made mistakes in the past. I?ll continue to make choices with my eyes wide open so as not to repeat past mistakes, which is why today I am standing where I am engaging all our political leaders in a direction all of them also should not put themselves in the line of repeating the same old mistake previous leaders have made. We are all human, nobody is perfect.

They may have made mistakes in the past but to the extent that they are able to admit that the old ways are wrong and come and work together to produce a new reality which will now begin to push them to show their good side, I will have no problem and I think as Nigerians, we must have confidence that we can be able to get things right. (Sunday Vanguard)

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