The Director-General of the Progressive Governors’ Forum (PGF), Salihu Lukman has asked the leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to audit and strengthen the party’s bureaucratic structure ahead of the 2023 general election.

In a statement issued in Abuja, the APC stalwart said strengthening the structures would deepen the nation’s democracy and engender good governance.

He said the issue of funding of the party’s secretariat should not be taken for granted, adding that once funding is not guaranteed, it would affect the quality of personnel, proposals and recommendations which they make.

He also cited how American political institutions rose above partisanship and ensured that the United States President, Donald Trump was not allowed to subvert the democratic process.

He said the starting point should therefore be to strengthen the commitment of political leaders produced by the APC to consider rational political proposals and recommendations as well as their implementation.

“As Nigerians, we must wake up to the reality that there cannot be a strong democracy without strong political parties. Once our political leaders are unable to orient themselves to respect and recognise proposals from the party’s bureaucracy, they will be weak in respecting, recognising or working with proposals from government bureaucracies when elected to office. There is no shortcut to these issues!”, Mr Lukman added.