Accusing El-Marzuq of deliberately trying to subvert the party’s constitution, Lukman expressed optimism that the said “legal opinion” would be part of the agenda at tomorrow’s meeting of the National Working Committee NWC.
Lukman’s reaction was contained in a letter dated May 1, 2023, addressed to Adamu and copied to President Muhammadu Buhari.
Also copied are the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, the Progressive Governors Forum, through its chairman and Kebbi State governor, Senator Abubakar Atiku Bagudu, and members of the APC National Working Committee, NWC.
“It is my hope that the memo will be presented to the meeting of National Working Committee NWC, scheduled for Wednesday, May 3, 2023. In that case, the substantive issue will be the consideration of recommendation for disciplinary measure against me, which may require invoking Article 21.5 of the APC Constitution”, he stated.
The APC vice chairman also declared that the NWC had no powers to discipline a party official, as the power is vested in the National Executive Committee, NEC, a body which meetings Adamu had refused to convene.
He said: “I want to unequivocally state that Article 21.3(i) of the APC Constitution explicitly mandates only the Executive Committee of the Party as the organ assigned the responsibility for disciplinary action as follows: ‘A complaint by any member of the party against a public office holder, elected or appointed, or another member or against a party organ or officer of the party shall be submitted to the executive committee of that party at all levels concerned which shall not later than seven (7) days of the receipt of the complaint, appoint a fact- finding or disciplinary committee to examine the matter.’
“With this provision, my expectation will be for the NWC to consider the memo and if adopted, refer the recommendations for onward transmission to the National Executive Committee NEC, in which case the NWC will then be acting as the complainant.
“There is nowhere in the APC constitution where the NWC is given the power to discipline any member of the party.”
Lukman noted that APC, being a party founded with the vision to promote progressive politics, must be about encouraging debates in organs of the party.
He said anybody who is not comfortable with positions that challenge decisions of leaders bordering on respecting provisions of the Party’s constitution should know that the APC is not where he belongs.
According to him, nobody, no matter how highly placed in the leadership of the party should be allowed to destroy the APC by blocking its relevant organs, notably the National Advisory Council NAC, National Caucus, and NEC from holding statutory meetings as required by the Party’s Constitution.
“While looking forward to robust deliberations at the Wednesday’s meeting of NWC, it is my hope that one of the resolutions of the NWC will be to convene a meeting of NEC before May 29, 2023 where all the demands I have made including reports of activity, financial report covering income and expenditure of the party, zoning for National Assembly leadership, review of 2023 elections, among others can be considered and appropriate decisions taken”, he added.