PGF DG tasks APC appointees on performance scorecards ahead of 2023
The Director-General, Progressives Governors Forum (PGF), Dr Salihu Lukman has urged appointees of All Progressives Congress (APC) led Federal Government to develop scorecards on their performance to enhance its chances in 2023 poll.
Lukman said this in a statement on Monday in Abuja.
He said although it was conventional in democracies for parties in power to have higher advantage of winning elections, the APC chances in 2023 were dependent on a number of issues.
“These include the ability of the APC Caretaker and Extra-ordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) to return the party’s organs to normal operations in line with its constitution,” he said.
He said that this should be followed by allowing party organs to take decisions which should be the basis for the unity of its leaders.
“There is also the need to depart from the political convention in Nigeria whereby leaders relate with everyone based on estimation of support or opposition of ambitions to access appointive and elective positions.
“This creates the problem of blind trusts, which in turn can lead to a situation whereby appointed officials of governments controlled by the party are more or less passengers,’’he said.
Lukman said that once appointed official became inactive, the capacity of the party and government to engage Nigerians and win public support would be weak.
This according to him, can produce the unacceptable reality whereby both the party and government will face challenges of bad public image.
“Taking every step to ensure that the conduct of party leaders remain regulated to conform to minimum standards is therefore necessary,”he said.
Lukman said that the APC must take necessary steps to ensure that 2023 campaigns are based on assessment of empirical evidence of performance and not perception.
He added that once that was achieved, the party would win the 2023 general elections without difficulties.
He said the big challenge, however, would be for the party leaders to take steps to retain the electoral advantages of President Muhammadu Buhari.
He said that the strongest opponent of the APC was within its fold, saying that the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) was just a shadow opposition whose electoral prospects depended on the outcome of internal contests in the APC.
“An inconvenient reality, which every APC leader and member, committed and working to protect the electoral viability of the party should be worried about, is that the strongest opponent of the APC is within its fold.
“The truth is, other parties, especially the PDP, are shadow opposition whose electoral prospects are largely dependent on the outcome of internal contests in the APC,” he said.
Lukman said this was especially because of the reckless and undisciplined conduct of some APC leaders.
He said that the lesson from the 2019 elections for every APC leader and members was that the party was defeated in Rivers, Zamfara, Bauchi, Adamawa, Oyo and many other states by its aggrieved members.
He said such party members and leaders worked against the party candidates or leaders as a result of internal disagreements around candidate selections especially for governorship positions.
