*Dismisses Wabara Suspension, Labels Him “Politically Empty”
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Former Governor of Jigawa State and ex-Senate Leader, Sule Lamido, has insisted that governors defecting from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC) should relinquish their positions, describing the practice as an act of grave dishonour.
In an extensive interview with Sunday Sun in his Kano office, Lamido also dismissed his purported suspension from the party by the acting Board of Trustees (BoT) Chairman, Adolphus Wabara, saying Wabara “is politically empty” and cannot suspend a patriarch of the party.
Speaking on the gale of defections by PDP governors to the APC, Lamido said: “In 1982, there was a crisis in my party, PRP, and there was a crisis in the GNPP. Late Goni of GNPP in Borno joined UPN. Late Governor Barde of Gongola State joined UPN. The PRP joined NPP, but then because we are a party of ideology with a puritanical philosophy, of character, we said that we won election on the platform of the PRP and if we are leaving the PRP, it is only normal for us to relinquish our position and return them back to the party.”
He continued: “So, I have been saying that if people are leaving the party for which they were elected they should also relinquish their positions. If they are leaving the party which made them governors, they should relinquish the position back to the party and say okay I am leaving. They never did.”
“In 1983, there was this thing called honour. If you are changing your political party, then you relinquish your position and go and join them on your own. So, what we have today are people who have no character, who have no honour, who are willing to trade with the fortunes of the electorate, with the mandate given to them freely, which they appropriate as their own personal thing and trade with it in another political party.”
On why PDP governors are defecting to the APC, Lamido explained: “I think the issue is not about joining Tinubu. It is about where their interests will be protected. They look at the PDP that made them what they are, honoured them as governors, and wonder whether they can win election on the platform of PDP of today. Simply put they want to run for election and want a place they would be more secure and may likely come back. They feel that PDP cannot offer that to them.”
He added: “The ADC is not mature enough, not fully developed. So the only thing they see is APC. So it is not about Tinubu. Tinubu is the president so he is able to use his own office, his own power to able to make a huge empire out of APC. So those who are going to the APC are going there because it is the only place they think they can secure their ambition.”
Lamido noted: “A party that had so many governors now has only three governors – Bala, Makinde and Fintiri. Dauda is there also negotiating because he is going to run for a second term. Even those who went to the convention and had their names on the convention programme have abandoned Turaki.”
On whether the PDP can survive the current crisis, Lamido said: “If there is commitment by PDP leaders, if there is love for democracy in Nigeria, if there is love for what is called sacrifice and if there is belief in seeing Nigeria as a democracy, I think that PDP can be restored. But the question is this: is the commitment there? Is there a sense of service for democracy?”
Explaining why he took the party to court, Lamido said: “Out of my own personal concern, I feel so bad that I, Sule Lamido, will take my party to court, the very party I so much love, the very party I so much cherish and the very party I have made so much sacrifices for and the very party which has honoured me with various positions. I have been a minister, governor and now a leader of the party, a senior member of the party and a life member of the BOT. Now I had to take the party to court. To me, it is the most painful thing.”
“But then, what can I do? What can I do when real political immigrants have taken over the party? Immigrants, who have no idea about the values of the party or the sacrifices made by the early leaders who formed the party. They are only there because of the office they occupy and therefore they want to control the party. So I went to court.”
On the Ibadan convention, Lamido stated: “Legally speaking, the Ibadan Convention is null and void. Even INEC acknowledges this. They called the factions, both the Bala faction and the Wike faction – they told them that either they get themselves reconciled or INEC will simply wait for the appeal at the court.”
“And the appeal in court is purely on my own case and the appeal now in court is very, very important in determining the fate of the PDP – the appeal is over the case which said don’t hold the convention except you sell the form to Sule Lamido and give him time to go and campaign so that he will be able to run. And until this appeal is cleared and as far as INEC is concerned, they don’t have anybody called PDP at the national level.”
On reconciliation, Lamido said: “I made so many efforts. I met some of our leaders, I called Bode George. Anybody you can think of. I went to Saraki because he is the chairman of the reconciliatory committee and I made efforts so that we can come together and talk. To me, my chairmanship is not sacrosanct. It is not at all. In fact, even if they call me to contest for the office again, I will not run because I have made my point that nobody can ban or deny that right. But apart from that I have no interest in running again.”
On his purported suspension by Wabara, Lamido laughed: “I am a lifetime member of the BoT and therefore nobody can sack me. Number two, and with all sense of humility, there is no 77-year-old person in the party. All those in the environment are my younger brothers in age. Those of my age – 77 years and thereabout, are not very active like me. So it means that within the PDP family I am the most active person within my age bracket. Therefore, I can’t imagine a member of the family trying to drive away their patriarch.”
“I feel highly embarrassed for Wabara. I hold the office in high esteem, but I have no respect for his person. This is the same Wabara that went to a function with his state governor who was of the Labour Party and endorsed him for a second term. Remember! Is there any bigger sabotage, any bigger betrayal of the party than this? And thankfully, the members of his own ward sacked him. As far as his ward was concerned, he had committed political treason. He betrayed the party and was sacked from the party because he endorsed an opponent. So in which capacity is he talking to me? So, I feel embarrassed for him and that was why I said I have no respect for him but I have respect for the office he held. That is why I said that he is a shell, he is politically empty.”
Lamido stated: “I made the point earlier on, about six months ago. I said that I will boycott all the meetings of PDP, either NEC meeting or that of BOT until and unless Wike and Ortom who professed to vote for Tinubu in 2027 are expelled from the party. I made that very, very clear. I told Wabara this. I told him and sent him a clip where Ortom and Wike were saying that they were going to work for Tinubu. So I have made that point that unless Wike and others are expelled I will not attend the meeting again. Have they? They have not been expelled and so I stayed away.”
On the role of governors in the party’s crisis, Lamido said: “The party, which has history, legacy and tradition, was taken over by this generation of young governors and most of them are alien in PDP. They are all aliens. They have no idea what is PDP. I respect them and their offices, but then they have not been fair to the party in terms of their personal conduct. Beyond being a governor, there is what is called duty and responsibility to the party or its interests. And they wrecked the party, and there is no doubt about that.”
Reflecting on the party’s history, Lamido said: “With all due respect, how many of us today know what PDP was in 1997 at formation? In 1997-98, you had the G-9, G-19; there was the Eastern Mandate headed by Alex Ekwueme and there was Afenifere led by Bola Ige. So, there were so many components, which came into being and which met in the House of Jerry Gana. These components sat down and debated sincerely and asked, ‘what do we do to salvage the country?'”
On why some opposed his chairmanship bid, Lamido said: “Some people said they don’t want me. Why? Because they said that I have got a very strong personality and therefore, I cannot be manipulated. Within a family, what is called manipulation? Within a family, there is nothing like a strong character or a strong personality because it is a single family working for a common goal towards a common objective. It is not personal.”
“Those who felt that I should not run for the position are those who felt that they could not control me. Why should you attempt to control a legacy? Why should you manipulate a legacy of service and unity within Nigeria? In 1997, PDP saved Nigeria, PDP got Nigeria saved, PDP worked for Nigeria and got Nigeria reunited. So with this kind of heritage, how do you want to manipulate this background?”
On fears of Nigeria heading towards a one-party state, Lamido said: “I understand your fear because we are going there grudgingly. But we are Nigerians and it is up to us to make a choice. If we submit willingly, who do you blame? The APC is a political party like PDP. I should be able to defend my own and then cannibalize others. If I can poach in your own party, I will poach.”
“If APC is poaching into PDP, why can’t PDP poach into APC? If you look at the PDP from 1998, look at the personalities in PDP, where are we? About 80 percent of the people in APC today were in the PDP. The only group in the APC, which is not PDP, is the ACN which is the Tinubu group. All others are PDP or APP.”
On why the issue of governors defecting with their mandates is not being tested in court, Lamido said: “The courts are not an island in Nigeria. They are part of the Nigerian components. The judges and people on the bench are also Nigerians. They are Nigerians. They are part of the Nigerian environment and if the majority of the people in one political party are not joining another political party, carrying with them the fortunes of that political party, what will the judge say. He is also a Nigerian and a part of the Nigeria environment. What will he do?”
On his plans for Jigawa State, Lamido said: “I am not running for any political office. But then also there are people who believe in PDP and in our kind of political philosophy different from the main PDP because the component of our PDP in Jigawa is coming from the PRP background. Therefore, naturally they do not share the ephemeral interest of simply going into something because of adventure.”
“I will look for a platform in which you make an alliance. Because you are coming from a locality and politics is local, I will look for something that is local to form an alliance within the political parties in Jigawa State. So we come to alliance, and what do I give and what do I get in return? That is if the PDP fails to behave, if the PDP fails to put its house together or if the PDP fails to put its house in order.”
Sule Lamido, 77, is one of the founding members of the PDP and served as governor of Jigawa State from 2007 to 2015. He was also a minister under the Obasanjo administration.
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