…says ‘I won’t join issues with him’
THE Director-General of the Progressive Governors’ Forum, Salihu Lukman, said, on Tuesday, that he would take responsibility for his previous comments on the crisis around the All Progressives Congress and its leaders, noting that his perceived ‘offence’ should not be transferred to any leader of the party.
The DG, who was responding to the attack by the former National Chairman of APC, Adams Oshiomhole, added that he held Oshiomhole in high esteem and would not join issues with him.
He spoke with journalists in Abuja.
“I account for my offence. No one should transfer my offence to any other leader of the party. That is the reason I said I don’t think it is a matter we should belabour. I take responsibility. And all that I have said, you all have it. It is written in ink,” he said.
The Point had reported on Monday that Oshiomhole berated the DG for saying that he was scheming to return as the National Chairman of APC, saying he (Lukman) was fronting for certain ‘elements’ within the party, whom he described as cowards.
The former Edo State Governor also said he was not interested in going back to the office of National Chairman, wondering why anyone would think he would want to resit a class he had passed.
Speaking with journalists in Abuja, Lukman said, “You are all aware of the statement attributed to the former National Chairman of APC, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole. I want to make two brief statements as a rider to what I will call an appeal. The first statement is to say very unequivocally that I hold Comrade Adams Oshiomhole in a very high esteem.
“I respect him, not just as a leader of APC, but as a person. I have had very good relationship with him and my relationship with him is special. My relationship with him is not in the way people imagined. The question of agreeing or disagreeing has been part of our relationship. I respect him and I respect every leader of the party.
“My prayer and hope is that our leaders will be able to have the needed large heart to tolerate one another and tolerate all of us because as human beings, God has created us differently. And it is the basis of the test of leadership – to be able to show an open, accommodating disposition to each one of us.”
He added, “The second statement I want to make is that I grew up in a very complex extended family set up and one of the things it has done in terms of my personal make up is that it imposes on me to be accountable at every point in time. When I commit an offence, based on my upbringing in that environment, I never transfer any of my offences to my parents or to any of my senior ones.
“I was always made to account and where there is the need as part of that accountability for me to be punished, I get punished. Having said that, I am open and ready to account for whatever I had said to the party and the leadership; if in the end, the process of accountability requires that I get sanctioned, I will accept and I will remain in this party and continue to contribute in whatever way I can to help the development of the party.
“I account for my ‘offence’. Nobody should transfer my offence to any other leader of the party. That is the reason why I said I don’t think it is a matter that we should belabour. I take responsibility. And all that I have said, you all have it. It is written in ink. It is not verbal communication that I can dispute. They are written documents.”
He appealed to APC leaders to show some respect for resolving all the challenges facing the party for the sustenance of party ethics, noting that President Muhammadu Buhari was running a liberal government unlike some past PDP Presidents.
“I have said it before that people can call President Muhammadu Buhari by any name, but I think the liberal environment we have in APC should be attributed to him because if he had conducted his affairs as the President of this country, and being the leader of the party in the way, for instance, one of the former Presidents had conducted himself under PDP, we would not have had this freedom,” the DG said.
When asked if there were threats to his position in view of calls for his sanction by some party leaders, he said, “No, I have said it before and even in the last statement in the submission to Gov. Mai Mala Buni-led Caretaker Extraordinary National Convention Planning Committee. I am very proud to work for Progressive Governors and no doubt people would have individual positions on the position that I have taken.
“But as far as I know, I think it encourages me that our leaders are truly disposed to engagement when it comes to issues of ideas on how to develop this party. So, it is not a matter of running away from certain issues that I had raised.
“I talked about the dangers of a single story as espoused by Chimamanda and I did not want the story that is all over the air now around what Comrade Oshiomhole said to be the only or single story. I want people to hear from me. I mean, I respect him and that is it.”
