PGF DG Resigns As Convention Divides APC Governors

The director-general of the Progressive Governors Forum (PGF), Salihu Lukman, has resigned his position, following the division among All Progressives Congress (APC) on whether or not the national convention of the party should hold in February.

BusinessDay learned that the APC governors during their meeting on Sunday, deliberated on whether Lukman should be forced to resign or not, throwing the governors into another division.

Sources privy to the meeting confided in our correspondent that while the majority of the governors opposed forcing the forum’s director-general to resign, a few others insisted he must go.

Efforts to get the reaction of the PGF director-general at the time of filing in this story, proved abortive as his mobile phone number was switched off.

Lukman had last week asked the Caretaker Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) of the party to stop lying to Nigerians and APC members that it was carrying out consultations to organise the February convention.

He told the CECPC that all consultations about organising the convention ended with the meeting of APC governors with President Muhamadu Buhari on November 22, 2021.

He said the CECPC should also stop claiming that it was waiting for the meeting of the Progressive Governors Forum before taking all necessary decisions to commence the process of organising the convention.

Lukman stressed that such a claim was not only dishonest but also taking the support of progressive governors for granted, which is why the governors have been reduced to punching bags of all party members regarding the challenges facing the party.

He said: “Progressive Governors, like all party members, will not associate themselves with any act of disrespect to decisions validly taken in consultations with President Buhari. They will not take responsibility for actions or inactions of the CECPC. Every responsibility of organising the convention is vested with the CECPC.”