Remove the gas tube/upper handguard assembly first. Then lubricate the lever, and the attached rod that goes over the barrel. There is a very good chance there is a ton of rust under that rod almost gluing it to the slot in the barrel that it rides in. Do a good job of drowning it with penetrating oil and let it sit for a while before you try again to rotate the lever, they can and do break.
As for plastic parts on an AK or AKM, I am the wrong person to ask
. On the other hand, the AK-74 shipped with a plastic stock set, but the MAK-90 is not an AK-74.
Also as rusty as some of those parts are, the upper handguard might be held in by rust too, so turning it out might be a pain. Once you do have the wood off, if you intend to take the rust off, having the wood off will allow you to get into areas some people miss. If the person you are sending it to does the de-rust, let them do it as most prefer to do it as part of their refinishing it.
Either way, the upper gas tube locking lever could also have a lot of rust on it. I have had to use needle nose pliers to move the lever that locks the gas tube in place because it was tight, but if it doesn't move easily, don't force it. Spray inside as much as you can to get penetrating oil on the upper mechanism too. You can take the top cover off, remove the bolt and spray the locking rod through the rear sight block.
Good luck getting it apart. Be patient and use lots of penetrating oil so that you don't break either of the retaining pins/locking levers.
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