Releasing e-copy of the Book Power of Possibility

[Salihu Lukman]

For quite sometimes now, political discussions in Nigeria are largely driven by raw anger and often spurious attacks on public authorities at all levels. Unfortunately too, actions of our leaders in public authority are largely reactive. In the circumstance, we have stagnated as a nation in a spot that hardly inspire hope, which makes it almost impossible for us as a people to even appreciate any progress that we may have made. 

 

Disturbed by this reality and the sad experience of 2019 elections whereby irrational conduct of especially opposition PDP reduced the campaigns to contests of vulgarity, I decided to work on documenting the experiences of APC from merger negotiations to the present in an objective way. With the theme Power of Possibility & Politics of Change in Nigeria, I was able to present all the major highlights of developments leading to the emergence of APC from 2013 to June 11, 2019 when the leadership of the 9th National Assembly emerged.

 

With a Foreword by President Muhammadu Buhari and two Prologues by Dr. Kayode Fayemi (Negotiating the Impossible) and Mal. Nasir El-Rufai (Defeating a Determined Incumbent), the book highlighted some of the major challenges facing the APC and proposed some recommendations to address them. 

 

Dedicated to Chief Bisi Akande, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu and Prince Tony Momoh in recognition of the sacrifices of the founding leaders of APC, a major submission of the book is that APC is an embodiment of Power of Possibility and our APC need to keep that tempo of managing affairs of the party based on the Power of Possibility. At the moment, a major challenge threatening the electoral prospect of the party is the problems of leadership disputes across virtually all the states of the federation. APC leadership under Comrade Adams need to wake up to that challenge by ensuring that all the different leadership disputes are resolved. What it simply means is for Comrade Adams to deploy his negotiating and mediating skills and not reduced his leadership to being one of the disputants in any of the conflicts.

 

Another major recommendation of the book is the issue of negotiating partnerships with interest groups. This is an aspect that is hardly engaged by any party in Nigeria in a structured way. Presented in the Epilogue of the book, it is argued that it is an area if adopted by APC with huge potentials to make APC the party of change in Nigeria for the foreseeable future.

 

It is my hope that the book will attract the interest of Nigerians and engagement such that public discussions could shift from the expression of raw anger against public authority with hardly much recommendations on what is to be done to some decent and civilized levels of consideration of proposals. Accordingly therefore, I am making the electronic copy of the book available to the public. I am ready and willing to respond to queries and criticisms as the need arise.

 

Finally, I want to express my profound gratitude to President Buhari, Dr. Fayemi, Mal. El-Rufai and all our APC leaders for all the encouragement and support, which was the major source of inspiration in writing the book. I am indeed very grateful.

-- 

Salihu Moh. Lukman

 

 

[Salihu Lukman]

[Biko Agozino]

Dear Salisu,

Thanks for sharing a copy of your book. I have glanced through it and found it to be an important, though one-sided, account of the history of party politics in Nigeria today. Am I right in saying that it is less scholarly and more biased than Party Politics in Nigeria by Richard Sklar?

I have more questions for you: Why are there so many references to Rochas Okorocha's APGA when it is clear that he never owned any such faction of the party but merely crossed over to APC? On the other hand, none of the PDP governors or senators and Reps who crossed over to APC was noted as carrying their own PDP into the new formation. This slant raises the suspicion that your book was sponsored by APC and so you had to give a shout-out to all the sponsors, though you also gave some credit to Jonathan for conceding defeat in 2015. You could have avoided such a suspicion by offering some criticism of the Buhari and APC government instead of simply singing their praises. 

Are there any policy areas where the big APC government is failing Nigerians and what are your recommendations for improvement? Did Rochas promise to sculpt your image in Imo for bigging him up in your book?

Finally, you kept referring to opposition parties whereas the Nigerian constitution that is modeled after the US presidential system has no room for opposition parties and leaders of the opposition. What they have in the US are Majority and Minority parties which allows a lame-duck president to emerge from the minority party and govern with the Majority party in Congress without triggering an immediate general election as would be the case in the Westminster model. The system also allows the president from a minority party to veto legislations from the minority party while minority party legislators could hold up debates by filibustering because the majority is not always right. So why do all the leaders of the APC and other Nigerian politicians keep talking about Opposition Parties when that is unconstitutional?

Biko

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[Salihu Moh. Lukman]

Thanks Biko for your quick feedback. My recommendation is that you should not judge the book by looking at its cover. I am not sure what will qualify as scholarly for you. My position is that we need to give accounts of APC’s emergence and its experiences. You may wish to dismiss what is before you as biased account but a good scholar will have the discipline to read before passing judgement. If you have tried to read you will find the policy issues you are looking for and my critique and recommendations.

On the status of Rochas, I think again read Chapter I and see how from the begin of merger negotiations, the faction of APGA led by Rochas was involved and became part of the interim leadership under Chief Bisi Akande. We may have our opinions about these personalities but basic rule of honesty require that any account biased or not should present the facts as they were.

Finally Biko, we need to be clear, the future of our democracy is not simply about our likes or dislikes for the key actors but how we are able to expand the Nigerian democratic space. It is also not simply about equating the US political culture with what may be evolving in Nigeria. Whether with reference to majority, minority or opposition, the critical issue is how is our democracy developing to accommodate the interests of citizens. I am sure if you are able to read the book, you will find discussions in the Epilogue useful to such a debate.

Regards.

SMLukman

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<Power of Possibility.pdf>

[Biko Agozino]

Dear Salisu,

Criticism is no sign of hatred. It is a patriotic duty in a country with rubber stamp legislatures bought with GMG and with hardly any vetoes and veto overides. The writers and the critics may constitute the real parliament of the people. Na you invite people to like the cover o. Anyway sha, I read pass the cover.

Biko

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[Salihu Moh. Lukman]

All the best Biko. I do hope we can find a space in our heart of hearts to be receptive to one another notwithstanding our differences. It is a challenge that will constantly test the value of our knowledge and scholarship.

I am indeed very grateful!

SMLukman

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[Toyin Falola]

Great one:

Let me thank you for circulating your book for free. As I see it, it would be elevated to the level of a primary archive as I already note aspects that we cannot know except via documentations such yours.

Can this democracy deliver development and peace?

This may be its ultimate test, as well as the main source of concern.

If it does bring progress, this phase shall pass.

I salute your intellectual efforts.

TF

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