Salihu Lukman, the former national chairman of the All Progressives Congress, has delivered a blistering verdict on the party he once helped steer, claiming that not a single democratic structure within the APC is still functioning. In a candid interview on Trust TV on Monday, Lukman went as far as to argue that even a monarchy—where a single ruler holds power—would be a preferable system of governance to the current state of the ruling party.
Lukman, who left the APC to join the African Democratic Congress before suspending his own membership of that party, did not mince words. He accused the APC of riding on a wave of overconfidence, fueled largely by an opposition that has failed to get its act together. “I was convinced that President Bola Tinubu and APC were committed democrats in 2023, but now some monarchies are better,” he said. “There is no structure of democracy that is functioning in the APC.”
He pointed to glaring constitutional violations, noting that the party’s National Executive Committee is supposed to convene every three months. “Ask yourself, when last you heard the party meeting? Maybe the NEC may have met about six months ago,” Lukman said. “Other organs of the party are not even functioning.”
Lukman warned that the APC’s complacency is a direct result of a weak opposition, and he called for a genuine challenge to force the ruling party back to life. “If the APC wants to wake up and become functional and start doing the right thing, fine. But for them to wake up, they need to be challenged,” he said. “Now, they are so confident of victory in this election because the opposition has failed to get its act together to pose a challenge against them.”
With an eye on the 2027 elections, Lukman’s remarks lay bare the deep disillusionment of a man who once stood at the party’s helm—and now sees little hope from within its ranks.
