A former national vice chairman (North West) of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Salihu Lukman, has called on former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo, Goodluck Jonathan, Muhammadu Buhari; erstwhile Heads of State, Generals Yakubu Gowon, Ibrahim Babangida and Abdulsalam Abubukar to form alliance to stop President Bola Tinubu’s re-election in 2027.
He said these leaders have the huge moral obligation of engaging all opposition political leaders in the country to unite in order to produce a functional political party that can serve as the harbinger for the emergence of ‘Godly’ leaders in the country.
Lukman made the call in an open letter to former President Olusegun Obasanjo titled: “Satanic Leadership and Nigeria’s Boiling Point” made available to journalists in Abuja on Monday.
The former APC leader said the open letter was inspired after reading a newspaper report in which Obasanjo was quoted to have said that ‘a leader made by Satan is bound to fail, while God’s chosen one will thrive’.
He emphasised that any political leader in disagreement with the current sad reality or what the former president correctly described as Nigeria having leaders made by Satan who refused to work with other opposition leaders, such a leader is inadvertently working for the electoral victory of the APC and President Asiwaju in 2027.
“And anyone who indulges or support such leaders is also inadvertently working for the electoral victory of APC and President Asiwaju in 2027. Many of those inadvertently working for the electoral victory of APC and Asiwaju in 2027 have little or nothing to lose. If anything, these are people whose elasticity for survival is very high, their capacity to make personal adjustments to any situation they are confronted is limitless.
“Everything must be done to put Nigeria on the roadmap of producing Godly leaders. It is not enough to lament about the fact of Satanic leadership in the country.
So long as Your Excellency and other past leaders failed to assert their moral authority in ways that can lead to the emergence of Godly leaders, it is as good as working for the second term of President Asiwaju and his team of failed leaders at all levels with all the problems they created. Of course, it simply means preference for Satanic leaders.
“My appeal therefore is for you and all past leaders of the country to unconditionally declare support for the emergence of Godly leaders in the country. This is only possible if mistakes of the past that led to the current sad reality of having Satanic leaders at all levels are corrected. One way of achieving that is through working to produce a functional political party.
“Remember how patriotic Nigerians worked to form the PDP in 1998. And having formed the PDP made it functional and use it to negotiate a national agreement leading to Your Excellency’s emergence as the Presidential candidate and your eventual electoral victory in 1999. The reality is that Satanic leaders took over at all levels of Nigeria largely because all the structures that are required to facilitate emergence of Godly leaders as candidates for elections were weakened, if not destroyed.
“Therefore, if we want to produce Godly leaders, Your Excellency, all past leaders and all patriotic Nigerians must apply themselves towards rebuilding Nigerian politics to facilitate effective negotiations towards the emergence of candidates with Godly genotype.
“The unity of all opposition political leaders is the first precondition. The second precondition is that negotiation to produce the political platform that will lead to the emergence of functional political party must not be driven by the ambition of any of the opposition leaders. In other words, all opposition leaders must set aside their personal ambitions.
“We must appeal to Your Excellency, and through you to all past political leaders of the country, and by extension all patriotic Nigerians to stop encouraging the current divisive orientation of political opposition in the country.
“Anyone who truly want Nigeria to produce Godly leaders must go beyond lamentations and take all the necessary step to correct the mistake of the past, which on account of acts of commission or omission made Nigeria to end up with Satanic leaders at all levels.
“Like other successful missions to your credits, if you add this to your records of achievements, it will further engrave you and all patriots who works to rebuild Nigeria’s democracy from its current despicable state, as the architects of new Nigeria.
“I was privileged to be in the leadership of APC during the 2023 elections and I can say without fear of contradictions that APC won the 2023 elections on account of the division within the opposition. Although I have withdrawn my membership of APC, I can say authoritatively that the current mindset of President Tinubu and APC is to keep the opposition divided as basis for winning the 2027 elections,” he added.
