A member of the National Working Committee of the All Progressives Congress, Salihu Lukman, has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to jettison the idea of being given the privilege to produce his successor in 2023.
Lukman, who is the National Vice-Chairman of the APC NWC, stated this in an open letter to President Buhari on Wednesday.
Buhari had reportedly told governors of the APC on Tuesday to give him the privilege to pick his successor.
But Lukman cautioned that such a move would erode all the lifelong achievements of the President to strengthen Nigeria’s democracy.
According to him, if Buhari does that it will reduce loyal party members to ordinary observers when very sensitive issues with very high potential to diminish his revered status are being discussed.
He further said any initiative that potentially takes away the rights of party members to elect candidates would potentially mobilise Nigerians against the party.
“The temptation for leaders to choose their successors is democratically risky and very costly”, he said adding that if Buhari could submit himself to internal democratic process in 2014, then his successor should follow the same process in 2022.
He said the APC must demonstrate much more sensitivity to the challenges of national unity by making sure that the eventual standard bearer for the 2023 election embodies commitment to equity and justice as the underlying principles sustaining the corporate existence of Nigeria.