Lukman assures Obidients, no preferred presidential aspirant; contest is open to anyone will to submit to party supremacy
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
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“Our position [in ADC coalition] is basically, whoever – and that is the first test of whether we will be different from the existing parties or not – whoever will be the candidate of the ADC must win the primary.
“It is the first test of whether those aspiring are, in the first place, democrats or not, and this is the issue in which we are engaging all of them.
“And the other test which we are putting to all of them is that their ambitions must go beyond their personal expectations. They have to factor in the reality facing the country.
“They have to come ready to be able to make the needed sacrifices to move this country forward. As it is, we have to be very honest, where the country is, it is not simply about presenting candidates.
“I always put forward to them that, look, as far as I am concerned, it is not a question of trusting leaders. I mean, leaders must earn the trust.
“So the best way leaders can earn trust is to be able to show humility that they are ready to subordinate themselves to the wishes of members of the party.
“Coming from APC, having a situation where we trusted leaders and they ended up becoming emperors today. Look at what is happening in APC. Everywhere you hear ‘on your mandate, on your mandate, on your mandate,’ I am not going to stand on anybody’s mandate.
“We want the person to always subordinate himself to members of the party, always seeking to get clearance in terms of what they are doing. That is the kind of template that we are looking for.
“And I think as Nigerians, we must resist the temptation of setting up leaders in a way that they become very arrogant, believing that it is either them or nothing” – Lukman.
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Salihu Lukman has assured wary 10 miilion Obidients that there is no preferred presidential aspirant in the African Democratic Congress (ADC), to enlist their support and quell suspicion that Peter Obi would be sidelined for the ticket in favour of someone else.
One of the major tasks of the ADC is having to convince the rigid supporters of Atiku Abubakar, Rotimi Amaechi and, particularly, Obi that there would be a fair and transparent primary, not a consensus candidate who buys votes and rigs out others.
Lukman, a recent decampee from the All Progressives Congress (APC) where he was National Vice Chairman (North West), doused the concern, saying the ADC flag bearer for the 2027 presidential election will emerge through a transparent primary election, insisting the party has no special preference.
He stressed that anyone who emerges as presidential candidate would be supported by all other contestants to avoid the pitfalls of the past, in the quest to defeat Bola Tinubu of the APC and rescue Nigeria from its quagmire.
He appealed to the supporters of various leaders of the coalition to join hands with the ADC to achieve the goal, reiterating that a divided opposition is as good as granting victory to the APC and Tinubu to continue to pillage national resources.
“So, as much as possible, we must keep the opposition together, and in keeping the opposition together, it is not about asking anybody to step down,” Lukman declared on Channels Television.
“And I appeal to the Obidients and other groups to really understand that the ADC and the coalition is the home for them and they should come and let us build ourselves together.
“If Peter Obi emerges as the presidential candidate of ADC, we will all support him and strengthen him to overcome the shortcomings of the past.
“So also, any other, if it is Atiku Abubakar who emerges, for instance, we will support him and strengthen him in such a way that he doesn’t repeat the mistakes of former President Buhari.
“So, I think these are issues which as Nigerians, we must be very honest and frank in engaging them if we are going to move this country forward. This is the kind of debate we want to have in ADC.
“Everybody will slug it out in the presidential primary, apparently.”
Lukman said the ADC would also factor in equity in its deliberations, assuing that the party will accommodate everyone, and there is currently no discussion about who will be the presidential candidate.
“Let me be very clear on this, there is no discussion about the question of presidential candidate in the coalition, up to this moment.
“And our position is basically, whoever – and that is the first test of whether we will be different from the existing parties or not – whoever will be the candidate of the ADC must win the primary.
“It is the first test of whether those aspiring are, in the first place, democrats or not, and this is the issue in which we are engaging all of them.
“And the other test which we are putting to all of them is that their ambitions must go beyond their personal expectations. They have to factor in the reality facing the country.
“They have to come ready to be able to make the needed sacrifices to move this country forward. As it is, we have to be very honest, where the country is, it is not simply about presenting candidates.
“I always put forward to them that, look, as far as I am concerned, it is not a question of trusting leaders. I mean, leaders must earn the trust.
“So the best way leaders can earn trust is to be able to show humility that they are ready to subordinate themselves to the wishes of members of the party.
“Coming from APC, having a situation where we trusted leaders and they ended up becoming emperors today. Look at what is happening in APC. Everywhere you hear ‘on your mandate, on your mandate, on your mandate,’ I am not going to stand on anybody’s mandate.
“We want the person to always subordinate himself to members of the party, always seeking to get clearance in terms of what they are doing. That is the kind of template that we are looking for.
“And I think as Nigerians, we must resist the temptation of setting up leaders in a way that they become very arrogant, believing that it is either them or nothing.
“That is the kind of negotiation that is right now going on within the coalition and it is a very difficult negotiation, I must confess, but we are very confident that in the end, we will succeed in presenting a common candidate.”
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