The immediate past National Vice Chairman (North-west) of the ruling All Progressives Congress, Salihu Lukman, has imputed complicity in alleged marginalisation of North Central by the party’s leadership to President Bola Tinubu.

The former director general of the Progressives Governors’ Forum made this accusation on Tuesday in a statement he authored, titled, ‘Perils of Bad APC Leadership,’ with which he cast aspersions on APC National Chairman, Dr Abdullahi Ganduje, labelling him a “political truant.”

Quoting part of the statement, Lukman wrote, “Beyond all that is also the fact that once Dr. Ganduje emerged as the National Chairman of APC, virtually all the APC leaders in Kano State relocated to Abuja. Part of why the Kano State Government was able to inflict the kind of huge political damage on Dr Ganduje is because of the absence of virtually all APC leaders in Kano.

“The reality is that since the emergence of Dr. Ganduje as National Chairman, for about nine months, he has not visited Kano State more than twice. With such reality, and operating as an opposition party, it begs the question about whether he is at all interested in getting APC to win back Kano State.

“If President Asiwaju Tinubu with all his busy schedules could find time to go back to Lagos State on more than five occasions, it is certainly scandalous that Dr. Ganduje will use his position as the APC National Chairman as an excuse for political truancy. Being a political truant could only produce electoral failure back in his home state.”

He added, “Inability to manage affairs of APC as provided under the constitution of the party is symptomatic of bad leadership, which in every respect the leadership of Dr Ganduje represent. Being saddled with bad party leadership has made APC leaders, especially President Tinubu, complicit in marginalising the people of North Central from the political leadership of the country.

“APC must urgently take steps to correct that by electing a new leadership for the party. This is an irreducible minimum for APC to recover and regain all its electoral strengths across Nigeria. Rebuilding the APC should be about restoring constitutional order in the party. Given the fact that the current members of NWC are in their third year now, and have so far appeared to be comfortable with running affairs of the party without reference to the APC constitution.

“The question of their political and administrative competence to manage the APC needs to be reviewed. Beyond changing Dr. Ganduje as the National Chairman, perhaps it is the whole NWC that should be changed.”