Former Jigawa State governor, Alhaji Sule Lamido, in this interview, speaks on the chances of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to bounce back and other issues. ADAMU AMADU brings excerpts.
The interim national chairman of the PDP, Senator Ali Modu Sherif, has visited some states, including Jigawa. What did you see about his visit to your state?
It was an official visit to the PDP family in Jigawa State as part of the preparations for the party’s convention. He (Modu Sheriff) came to the state and met with officials and members of the party in the state concerning our preparation. He had come to formally present himself as the [interim] national chairman of the party. He needed to see his people and he people needed to see him. He wanted to make sure that the party was properly reconciled in the state because those who left the party and were brought had initially left in anger.
The PDP is the only party that has the capacity to lead Nigeria because it is owned by Nigerians. Another point is that he [Modu Sheriff] came to encourage those of us that are left in the PDP after the elections of 2015 since the government and the ruling party in Jigawa State have said that there is no PDP anymore in the state. There was a big rally in December 2015 or thereabouts where they received 370,000 members of the PDP family who left. Those that remain in the PDP in Jigawa State are Sule Lamido and a few others so, we need encouragement and support because we have been abandoned.
So, you will not refute the claim of the All Progressives Congress (APC) government that the PDP is dead in the state?
No. You see, we don’t want to join issues with anybody. Let them have the pleasure and indulgence of this hallucination that there is no PDP in Jigawa State. Let them keep celebrating that there is no PDP in the state while we work hard to restore the PDP. We are not disproving anything. We are doing our own thing - rebuilding our party. We will work very hard to restructure the party in order to regain people’s confidence and trust so that we can fight another day.
Your congresses and convention are drawing near but nothing has been seen so far in terms of preparedness to show that the party has really embraced reconciliation. What is really happening?
You see, you amuse me. You don’t know what we are doing, how hard we are working. I mean, we are doing things within the party. We are reaching out. We are talking and trying to reconcile. You don’t need to see it on facebook or on the pages of newspapers before you realise that we are working. What we want you to know is the result, which you will know when the time comes.
Many times, we do a number of things quietly. You know, when you talk about reconciliation, people have been offended and you need to go to them and plead. But the current national mud is not what we expected and nobody knows where we are heading to.
The PDP, which was in power for 16 years, was defeated by the PDP, because those who defeated it in the [last general] election were old PDP forces. Without these [old] PDP members, they wouldn’t have won the election, because in 1999, 2003, 2007 and 2011, all these parties combined could not defeat the PDP. It was only when the PDP was divided and some of its members went to the APC that they were able to win the election. So, the victory which the APC is now gloating about was not all theirs; it was PDP’s victory, but the wrong PDP, the PDP of anger.
With the kind of underground work you are doing, do you think you can woo those governors that left the party then back into the fold?
I know you are very clever and you want me to get into it but sorry, wait and see the result. You see, when you are negotiating, you don’t advertise it.
How do you intend to restore the PDP to power in 2019 in Jigawa State?
We will work hard. I don’t want to sit here and begin to engage in speculations. We will work hard. We lost an election, so, we will work very hard.
How did you feel about the police cancelling some of the planned activities of your party’s national chairman during his visit?
What were the activities? The programme was that the national chairman would come to the party’s secretariat to see his party’s members. That was all. It was not a rally, which we were to hold at the Malam Aminu Kano Triangle. We are going to do that one very soon. He came and saw party members and they saw him. Nothing was cancelled by anybody. That what we asked for and that was what happened.
Was the visit part of a reported campaign against the forthcoming national convention?
No. The visit was part of the build-up to the convention. And the real rally will soon be done at the Malam Aminu Kano Triangle to show that there really is PDP on the ground and give people confidence that the party is working very hard towards the convention.
You have insisted that the incumbent state governor has your support, that there is a cordial relationship between the two of you, but it is being insinuated that there is a rift between you...
There is no rift but mutual respect between us. He is occupying a position I once occupied. I cannot undermine the position or vilify him. If I do so, I would also be undermining my own history. So, I am always willing and ready to offer my advice to the governor anytime he wants it. We are best of friends. We talk. Politics is beyond Sule Lamido. It is beyond Governor Badaru. The political activists around him are there around me, too and they try to direct where the wind should blow. We are perfect brothers. I am his former governor and he is my governor, so, I wish him the best.
Suppose the APC woos you to join the party...
They are free to dream. I have been saying that the APC is a formation of small parties – small party CPC, small party ACN and small party ANPP. And rather than join me, I am joining them? No. Since they said we are a party of devils and that everything evil is PDP, why can’t they, as saints, come and cleanse us? Let them come to the PDP and purify us.
If you were given the presidential ticket, would you accept it?
Given the ticket by whom?
By the PDP.
You see, you are not given a ticket, you earn a ticket. You work to earn it.
Are you working towards earning it?
Every member should work towards the PDP’s success. In the process, we will pick somebody who can bear the flag.
If you are offered the candidacy to be Nigerian president under the PDP in 2019, what will be your response?
If I am offered the ticket by the PDP in 2019, I will thank God Almighty and thank those who consider me fit to be the president of Nigeria. So, I will accept it

http://www.tribuneonlineng.com/i-want-apc-leaders-to-join-me-in-pdp-%E2%80%94sule-lamido

I know you are looking for a Ladder to climb into Aso Rock come 2019, but beware of APC Ladders, many of them are too “Rusty and Rickety” for You to Use. People such as those listed below are better left in the Dust Bin.
1 Rotimi Amaechi
2 El Rufai
3 Bukola Saraki
4 Bola Tinubu
Etc.

Jirate:
I know you are looking for a Ladder to climb into Aso Rock come 2019, but beware of APC Ladders, many of them are too “Rusty and Rickety” for You to Use. People such as those listed below are better left in the Dust Bin.
1 Rotimi Amaechi
2 El Rufai
3 Bukola Saraki
4 Bola Tinubu
Etc.

Painment of election loss.

Apart from Saraki, the rest were PDP slayers!

Same old politicians!
Representing their pockets.

Let see how it go

DropShot:

Painment of election loss.

Apart from Saraki, the rest were PDP slayers!

Sule Lamido is only being clever by half, he knows his (plus his accomplice kids] EFCC case is still in the cooler and he's only posturing so when the heat is back on him, he will go "They are PERSECUTING me because of my ambition".....

modath:


Sule Lamido is only being clever by half, he knows his (plus his accomplice kids] EFCC case is still in the cooler and he's only posturing so when the heat is back on him, he will go "They are PERSECUTING me because of my ambition".....

He should have known this strategy doesn't work with PMB.

He has dates with EFCC and he cannot be left off hook.

DropShot:

Painment of election loss.

Apart from Saraki, the rest were PDP slayers!

Slayers of Nigeria You mean?, because Millions of Nigerians are not comfortable with this “Bastard Change” they helped to metamorphosed.

Jirate:


Slayers of Nigeria You mean?, because Millions of Nigerians are not comfortable with this “Bastard Change” they helped to metamorphosed.

You mean the cooked up 12 million?

Some dreams just remain dreams

OK. They r coming.
Recycling same set of people.
Continue!

If wishes were horses....

So who controls PDP; northerners, Yorubas or iPads?

Last I heard, iPads don't want amala and ewedu politicians to dilute their party, they're okay with Fulani herdsmen. Stop begging APC to join una o.

Buhari got millions of admirers in the northwest and Northeast, While Tinubu controls the Southwest and got some loyalist in northcentral.

If PDP wants to rule in 2019 I think they need a Tinubu too, So the southwest,Southsouth, Northcentral and Southeast can come together to push away PMB but I doubt if Yorubas will vote for a Northern/Igbo candidate against APC Northern/Yoruba candidate and they'll not want to jeopardise their chances in 2023. Voting a fresh northerner means he has to rule for 8yrs again (2015---2027) 12yrs for northerners? I no gree that one ooooh

Well let's watch as things unfolds

God bless Imo State

Brb Holy Trinity Church Maitama

Jirate:


Slayers of Nigeria You mean?, because Millions of Nigerians are not comfortable with this “Bastard Change” they helped to metamorphosed.

5% wailers? Even if Buhari brings heaven on earth, they still won't like it. This government ain't about pleasing them.

Who you help so far?

These 2 parties should look beyond getting members from each other. It only shows that their major aim is attaining power and not the upliftment of the masses. A good democratic party should be able to sensitize the grassroots about their party and to be able to attract members who aren't members of their opposition parties.

I think we've had enough of the northerners. We don't need another tourist

lols PDP on begging spree

This is where the change starts'' Rochas where are youwont you join now that the coast is clear

Anyway, am a proud PDP member, and i know we will definitely return to power. Zombies, be warned.







Shiit, i don miss first service again. No wonder my pastor pikin dey vex for me

Hmmm....

We all know that.. APC is synonymous as PDP... Without the factioned PDPn, APC wouldn't have had it ways....

I can remember fully... That the electioneering of PMB got higher waves when OBJ abandoned PDP and got heed to Buhari... Everybody on Nairaland joined Baba and Buhari and PDP was left to struggle alone...


Funniest thing is that, Nigerians will always support the wrong people... Even when those who made Nigeria a bad country flew to APC, Nigerians still support them....


Fact is... APC, (with the likes of OBJ, Tinubu and Amaechi,) will never make a party that will bring about change!

These set of people ruin Nigeria and merged themselves with the new party and suddenly became saints.... And has no bad records....

So EFCC wants to tell Nigerians that Amaechi has never tampered with national funds?

And why is Buhari's pursuit over Dansuki, based on the inappropriateness of funds that was used to sponsor GEj's election?

But it isn't any of my concern again... All I ever wanted was job employment but it isn't coming through.. Workers are sacked everyday.. Private firms are folding up everyday.. Money isn't in circulation.. Fulanis herdsmen are making life unbearable for common farmers..

The FG claims they have Nigerians at heart but doesn't know what Nigerians are passing through....

For PDP to stage a true come back they need the youth, refined and enlightened youths who are ready to effect the true change. Apc is more for elders so let pdp reformation be found on the youths. Game changers.

That's sportsmanship:
Re we to believe that the APC has forgiven this man Thought the said he and his children stole heavily from the state coffers abi were the no longer able to prove the billions stolen??

The perceived injustice that made some prominent members leave has been redressed. This, along with the one man show at the other end, will make many of them return to the PDP. The ambiguous zoning of the presidential ticket to the North is a clever ploy to lure those with presidential ambitions back to the party. It is safe to say, a lot of movements will take place as the build-up to the 2019 gets heated up....I pray they heed his call. The umbrella is big enough to accommodate everyone. The new slogan here is: "The more the merrier."

Ok

It hurts that these dull, unimaginative fatsos are lording it over us, the youths and we can't do anything because most people would rather support either the PDP or APC to perpetuate the subjugation to which we've been subject.

Lamido has a case with the EFCc; he, along with his sons, are accused of having orchestrating humongous corruption and instead of him to face his case, he's lobbying the ruling party to join him so he can reclaim power and further his avaricious ambitions.

Sad, sad, sad.

Political power, to them, is an end, not a means to the greater end of serving the people.

And we the youths take sides. Most of us have our favourite political criminals.

The story of Nigeria is fast panning out as a tragedy.

FanYogo1:


5% wailers? Even if Buhari brings heaven on earth, they still won't like it. This government ain't about pleasing them.

Since he has only brought hell of weak currency, darkness, fuel scarcity and flight of investors, when Nigerians see Buhari's heaven, they will judge. Until then....

AreaFada2:
Since he has only brought hell of weak currency, darkness, fuel scarcity and flight of investors, when Nigerians see Buhari's heaven, they will judge. Until then....

Yes he brought all that within one year. Ode. If I discuss politics, it won't be with your likes.

onatisi:
These 2 parties should look beyond getting members from each other. It only shows that their major aim is attaining power and not the upliftment of the masses. A good democratic party should be able to sensitize the grassroots about their party and to be able to attract members who aren't members of their opposition parties.

I agree with you wholeheartedly but the problem with Nigeria and Nigerians is that very very few good people go into politics, 99% are just there to loot and plunder, hence the vicious circle...... I dream and hope for the day that our politics will be less monetized, people with vision and drive will then rise up.... since the miscreants cant be bothered to spend money on top nothing.... No return on "investments'....

MR SULE JUST CONFIRMED WAT I HAVE ALWAYS BEEN SAYING N WAT MOST WISE NIGERIANS KNEW. PDP IS APC N APC IS PDP. NOTHING HAS CHANGED N NOTHING WILL CHANGE

b

FanYogo1:


Yes he brought all that within one year. Ode. If I discuss politics, it won't be with your likes.

Yes he did. Was it like this 18 or 24 months ago? Or were you in some cave then?

A supposedly high horse person insulting. APC agbero trademark.

A clear product of failed education system cannot take difference of opinion. I guess that's what endeared an illiterate dictator & coup plotter and democracy rap.ist to people like you.