Former Jigawa State governor, Sule Lamido, has accused governors of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of deliberately sabotaging his ambition to become the party’s national chairman.
Speaking in an interview with the BBC Hausa Service, Lamido alleged that the governors opposed his candidacy because they believed he was too independent-minded to be controlled if elected.
Lamido claimed that the Chairman of the PDP Governors Forum and Bauchi State governor, Bala Mohammed, personally contacted him and asked him to withdraw from the race.
According to Lamido:
“Bala, the governor of Bauchi, called and said, ‘My elder brother, you are stronger than us. If we make you chairman, we can’t influence you.’ But I told him, when the PDP was formed, you were not there. You didn’t know the party. You are new in it. A party with history should not be possessed by one person.”
The former governor said that despite his efforts to secure a nomination form, the governors allegedly blocked him, forcing him to approach the court.
He added that even after a court order was issued in his favour, the governors defied the ruling and filed an appeal.
Lamido also rejected the leadership that emerged from the recent convention that produced Tanimu Turaki as national chairman, describing the exercise as “null and void.”
He called on respected party elders, including former President Olusegun Obasanjo, to step in and help rescue and restructure the party, saying the PDP must be reorganised if it is to contribute meaningfully to Nigeria’s democratic and developmental future.
