Congresses for the nomination of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidates for the Houses of Assembly election in 2015 took place nationwide on Saturday, November 29, 2014. Governor Sule Lamido joined his fellow delegates to participate in the exercise in Birnin Kudu, Jigawa State. Lamido later spoke to Sunday Vanguard on some political issues. Excerpts:

You were running for president. You were warming up for it. Then suddenly  you  withdrew for President Jonathan. What made you withdraw? And what role will you play in your party? Will you be active or merely passive during the presidential campaign of the PDP?

Lamido: There is no way  a governor  can beat a sitting president to the presidential ticket of the party. The same thing applies in the states. There is no way in a party arrangement that an outsider can come and defeat a governor seeking re-election at the party primaries. He can go to another party, collect his ticket and he can win at the general elections, but certainly not within the party.  If, for instance,  I  go with the yearnings of my supporters, I will only cause them more heartache and pain because I will be defeated by the president. There are some facts which cannot be ignored.
It will also give my  opponent some  credibility  and legitimacy  because he will say: ‘I contested with Sule Lamido and I defeated him’. I will end up becoming frustrated because the process is not going to be transparent. If I want to hurt my party, or perhaps hurt Nigeria, I will say I will run.  They will bring EFCC, ICPC after me, but no problem. I will raise all the sentiments, North, South and what have you. I know the areas I can touch if I mean my party and my country ill-will. At the end of it, I will be defeated.
Then, I will refuse to concede defeat;  I will say there were no level grounds. I will storm out and address a press conference… I refuse to do that. I love my party, PDP. And I love my country, Nigeria. I can never allow my personal aspiration to blind me to the dangers it can bring on my party and my country.  I will ruin my party, I will put my country in danger, but I will also be crippled politically. Why should I willingly go through that? A country that made me what I am, gave me space to grow? I will do everything in my power to pay back Nigeria for what Nigeria has made me. I will work hard to see that Nigeria is stable, united and strong, so that as Nigeria has enabled me to grow, other Nigerians will also have the opportunity to grow to the best of their potentials, to be governors, ministers, parliamentarians, academicians, captains of industry, scientists, professionals and what have you.
To answer your question, it was people who felt I had the qualities that were promoting the idea that I should run. Having opted out of the race, it should not in any way dilute my commitment to my party and the progress of the country. It will not.

Will you support the president fully during the campaigns, or will you play ‘siddon look?

Lamido: What we are going through today in  Nigeria  should go beyond partisan politics.  Only yesterday, there were bomb blasts in Kano. How many people died?  How many were injured? People in their place of worship. No matter how you see it, sometimes there are difficult situations.  My party and my Federal Government must assist me in  ensuring my safety. Right now, we are overwhelmed by grief.
Government must be seen to have the political will and commitment to confront this insurgency. Even though I believe in Nigeria, I am also coming from a political environment.  And when a certain arrangement seems to be undermining me, ignoring the circumstances under which I live in my environment, it becomes very,  very difficult for me to give the required political support.  Government should also be  willing and able to encourage me to support it.  It should be able to provide me the comfort I need.  Immediately after the Kano mosque bombing, text messages began to  circulate.People are saying, ‘the North should not forgive Murtala Nyako, Shehu Shema, Sule Lamido and Isa Yuguda’, they listed four governors for supporting President Goodluck Jonathan to be president in 2011.

Are they saying that the president is connected with the bomb blasts?


Lamido : You see, as human beings, when you are going through frustration, and you are literally overwhelmed, you can get disoriented and over-react. Otherwise, what do the bomb blasts have to do with the 2011 election? I am coming from a tribe, from a region and from an environment, and these types of things drain me of all moral authority, all political authority. And, therefore, when things are not working very well, I am one of those people hold accountable.  I am part of the leadership of the country and so my people hold me accountable.

When  people like Edwin Clark say  people of the South-South are angry with the North for being against their son, it diminishes my contribution to the making of the Jonathan presidency. When people are overwhelmed by hopelessness, they can take it out on anybody who is around, and people will now be making reckless statements. I  must be given the moral authority, and things must be decisively checked. And people should not be making reckless statements. We need to work towards a Nigeria for all Nigerians, not northern Nigeria or southern Nigeria. People should be defending the interests of Nigeria, not just the interests of their regions and abusing people who are from the other side.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/12/2015-presidential-election-conditions-campaign-jonathan-gov-sule-lamido/?utm_source=&utm_medium=twitter

Immediately after the Kano mosque bombing, text messages began to  circulate.People are saying, ‘the North should not forgive Murtala Nyako, Shehu Shema, Sule Lamido and Isa Yuguda’, they listed four governors for supporting President Goodluck Jonathan to be president in 2011.

Is now very glaring, no nothern PDP governor who dare to support jonathan in 2015!

Yes, the sentiment is that strong! Edwin Clark and Co have killed off the chances!

So, 2011 matter still dey pain una?

NgeneUkwenu:


Is now very glaring, no nothern PDP governor who dare to support jonathan in 2015!

Yes, the sentiment is that strong! Edwin Clark and Co have killed off the chances!

NgeneUkwenu:
....When  people like Edwin Clark say  people of the South-South are angry with the North for being against their son, it diminishes my contribution to the making of the Jonathan presidency.

There are coded messages he is passing here. So far South East/South South have labelled anyone against GEJ as a traitor, North too will react by declaring anyone supporting GEJ as an enemy(no wonder PDP is collapsing in the North lately).
Only the advanced South West vote will determine the winner of next year Presidency.
The divide has been broadly defined of late.

Mallam thought he was wise by making plans to succeed Gej but Jona played a fast one on him and others....personal interests, that's all they have..

Sule Lamido is an azz. He was all over the place in 2011 insulting his people and campaigning for GEJ with the hope he would be allowed be President in 2015. He was everywhere in 2011 insulting, castigating Buhari and opposition figures. GEJ dealt him a low blow by exposing his corrupt side with his thieving sons. When he realized he wouldn't be allowed to become the flag bearer, he started looking for ways to get his two thieving sons out of corruption charges as FFK did. The stupid Lamido really thought GEJ was going to run for one term.

Poor you stupid Lamido.

The situation we have in PDP at the moment can be likened to the 'Peace of the graveyard' wherein people like Sule Lamido and some top ranking member across the country have been held at Gunpoint and Bombpoint to either support GEJ unpopular 2nd term tenure or the country gets destroyed

Yet this is a man who says he has performed yet we have to go look for an electron microscope to view his performance

I have never seen such a failure and divisive man whose tenure has almost brought Nigeria to its kneel on all fronts

Ethnoreligious bigotry has become his most potent weapon to whip up sentiment

FastShipping:
Sule Lamido is an azz. He was all over the place in 2011 insulting his people and campaigning for GEJ with the hope he would be allowed be President in 2015. He was everywhere in 2011 insulting, castigating Buhari and opposition figures. GEJ dealt him a low blow by exposing his corrupt side with his thieving sons. When he realized he wouldn't be allowed to become the flag bearer, he started looking for ways to get his two thieving sons out of corruption charges as FFK did. The stupid Lamido really thought GEJ was going to run for one term.

Poor you stupid Lamido.

I truly endorse all you have said

Sule Lamido is a fool of the highest order,when he was playing his selfish politics and mortgaging his region's collective aspiration he thought he was in the pole position to be nominated by Obasanjo for the Presidency in 2015 hence stayed back when the G5 decamped. Now he would be damned if he continues to stay back or if he decamps

GEJ now have him by his bal.ls with the corruption thingy because i thought if he was really clean,he would have dared the party.....only for him to capitulate

Now they have given a lighter to a fisherman carrying a 50kg liter of fuel.....

Daguccizgreat:
The principal Agenda the north had in 2011 was to install a northerner to complete the 8 years meant for yar dua but it neva worked out after all,hence making them to see gej as the worst enemy today. The truth which is so bitter to take is dat gej will rule for another 4 years then hand over to either David mark or an Igbo man. If the hausas feel it's unacceptable, they shud come out publicly And voice their intention of separating frm the south to have their own country. They have to understand that in life changes come and there is nothing any body can do abt it. Their rulership period is gone, it's time for the south to rule.

This is the type of comment that when you hear of real life opinions of people about NL, you get discourage coming here.


Plain and willful ignorant comments everywhere you turn to.

soroptimist:


I truly endorse all you have said

Sule Lamido is a fool of the highest order,when he was playing his selfish politics and mortgaging his region's collective aspiration he thought he was in the pole position to be nominated by Obasanjo for the Presidency

Now they have given a lighter to a fisherman carrying a 50kg liter of fuel.....

Sule Lamido was all over the place up till last year December. Just last year he was criticizing APC emergence and was still in no mans land that he was going to be the next President . The moment the dolt realized GEJ was not going to honor the gentleman agreement, he started talking about GEJ as a mad man holding matches in a petrol station. The thing pain am no be small

FastShipping:




Sule Lamido was all over the place up till last year December. Just last year he was criticizing APC emergence and was still in no mans land that he was going to be the next President . The moment the dolt realized GEJ was not going to honor the gentleman agreement, he started talking about GEJ as a mad man holding matches in a petrol station. The thing pain am no be small

Really the guy got mended by El Failure

That is PDP for you a party that allows you steal as much as you want but the day you want to show yourself that is the day they will ruin and rubbish you

For me the takeaway from the Sule Lamido/GEJ debacle is that Sule's corrupt tendencies as well as that of his sons were exposed

Never in his life should he pontificate about anything around my hearing again

I was not surprised when lamido and his colleague from Niger state betrayed the G5s at the last minutes of their defection to the APC.

I have always known they must have done that for their personal survival and an act of cowardice. I salute Murtala Nyako for damning the consequences even when he know he is not fully in control of the state Assembly and with the attendant implications of such an act. kudos to him!!!

PentiumPro:


This is the type of comment that when you hear of real life opinions of people about NL, you get discourage coming here.


Plain and willful ignorant comments everywhere you turn to.

this was y I said it's a bitter truth to take. Sis if it's too hard for you to take, then you can go and die

Daguccizgreat:
this was y I said it's a bitter truth to take. Sis if it's too hard for you to take, then you can go and die

How can he hand over to David Mark or an Igbo man?

PentiumPro:


This is the type of comment that when you hear of real life opinions of people about NL, you get discourage coming here.


Plain and willful ignorant comments everywhere you turn to.

I am disappointed in you


After 2019 whose peoples turn do you think it is.?

PentiumPro:


How can he hand over to David Mark or an Igbo man?

Simple

By telling the world that a Northern Christian is yet to rule after Gowon or that the Igbos last tasted power more 50 years ago.

OP, why did you not run the whole interview? You cherry picked the part of the interview that will allow you take a dig at the President but ignored the part of the interview below that was actually a dig at your lord and master, the criminal coup-plotting democratic president wannabe with 17th Century ideas but unfortunately is being romanticised by his ignorant supporters as the country's messiah:



Your contemporaries – some governors finishing their second terms in about six months – are heading to the Senate and you have decided not to. What is your political future?





I have been around for a long time. In all modesty, I think I have acquired the status of a father who should be guiding the children in this very difficult period of our history. I am in the last group of public office holders linked to the old order playing roles in the new generation. I am like a bridge with which people can cross over to the new generation of leaders in Nigeria. The old order fought for Nigeria’s independence which we got in 1960. Then there was military intervention and an unfortunate civil war. In 1979, we returned to civil rule and the founding fathers were again part of our democracy. That was when I came into politics. Those who plotted the military coup against our country in 1983, psychologically, did not see themselves as leaders. It was a defining moment in our history. They tried to wipe out our history. They sought to literally destroy, rubbish, terrorise, distort and obliterate the vision of our forefathers.

They felt that was the only way they could stand. While some of us remained with the founding fathers, the rest of them who went to the military college and fought the civil war decided to topple the very institutions that made them. For them to be seen as leaders they must wipe out the legacies they met in place.

I do not think there is anyone who was in office in 1983 still occupying elective office today. I was in the House of Representatives in 1979. I was a very young man, but I enjoyed the mentoring and support of the founding fathers. Being the last man standing from that generation, I think the best I can do is to help the younger generation to capture some values one of which is the value of seeing public office not as an industry but service. So, I am going to be much more in the political arena than the government arena. I will be active, politically, in my ward after I leave office. I will also be very active in Jigawa State.

I will be vigorously active at the national level in the party. I will be mentoring, influencing, guiding and advising. I will add more value outside government. My involvement in politics will not be seen as a means of employment or a sanctuary for me. I must not occupy a political office to be seen to be relevant. I am already relevant. I don’t need to be in the Senate to be relevant. I don’t need to be in an office for protection. So, it is only fair for me to allow the younger generation to play their roles in government while I act as a guide. I will be seen as father to all. I will be seen as the property of the people, whom they own. They will be coming to me as a father, friend, brother and mentor.

PentiumPro:


This is the type of comment that when you hear of real life opinions of people about NL, you get discourage coming here.


Plain and willful ignorant comments everywhere you turn to.

Just ignore posters like that. Many come here to say what they wish to see and not what reality indicates is likely to happen.

mankevo:

There are coded messages he is passing here. So far South East/South South have labelled anyone against GEJ as a traitor, North too will react by declaring anyone supporting GEJ as an enemy(no wonder PDP is collapsing in the North lately).
Only the advanced South West vote will determine the winner of next year Presidency.
The divide has been broadly defined of late.

notherners see pdp/FG/gej as being behind the insecurity in d north frm their action and inaction, and they hate those governors that supported then in 2011. After each bomb blast attack , you'd hear people saying: "whoever vote pdp/gej again in 2015 is a traitor , a heartless person and shouldn't be allowed to move around."
The msg is clear; vote pdp and get lynched!

BlackTechnology:



I am disappointed in you


After 2019 whose peoples turn do you think it is.?

Another ignorant comment, a false sense of entitlement.

BlackTechnology:



Simple

By telling the world that a Northern Christian is yet to rule after Gowon or that the Igbos last tasted power more 50 years ago.

Very funny

So IGBOS have been completely out of power in the last 50 years? Biko spare us this nonsense jooor.

dunkem21:
So, 2011 matter still dey pain una?

that was when the mistake was made and, it must be corrected in 2015.
That pamby-namby called gej must go!

PentiumPro:



Very funny

So IGBOS have been completely out of power in the last 50 years? Biko spare us this nonsense jooor.

You see the disadvantage of free amala education

1966 - 2019 will make it 53 yrs since the last Igbo Ironsi held real power.

1975- 2019 will make it 43 yrs since the last Northern Christian Gowon held real power.

PentiumPro:



Very funny

So IGBOS have been completely out of power in the last 50 years? Biko spare us this nonsense jooor.

You see the disadvantage of free amala education

1966 - 2019 will make it 53 yrs since the last Igbo Ironsi held real power.

1975- 2019 will make it 44 yrs since the last Northern Christian Gowon held real power.

Alphaoscar:
I was not surprised when lamido and his colleague from Niger state betrayed the G5s at the last minutes of their defection to the APC.

I have always known they must have done that for their personal survival and an act of cowardice. I salute Murtala Nyako for damning the consequences even when he know he is not fully in control of the state Assembly and with the attendant implications of such an act. kudos to him!!!

Sule Lamido shouldn't be seen as coward even though the situation he finds himself makes him show some uncertainty. He has his son to protect. We all know how Jonathan went about using the EFCC against his son. If you read carefully, you will see where he mentioned EFCC.

FastShipping:
Sule Lamido is an azz. He was all over the place in 2011 insulting his people and campaigning for GEJ with the hope he would be allowed be President in 2015. He was everywhere in 2011 insulting, castigating Buhari and opposition figures. GEJ dealt him a low blow by exposing his corrupt side with his thieving sons. When he realized he wouldn't be allowed to become the flag bearer, he started looking for ways to get his two thieving sons out of corruption charges as FFK did. The stupid Lamido really thought GEJ was going to run for one term.

Poor you stupid Lamido.

Indeed. Unfortunately for Lamido, things have changed immensely to leave his self-serving calculations in tatters. Lamido is now viewed with cynicism by many of his peers. He appears to lack conviction and ,like Governor Aliyu, is another 'turncoat' character always playing to the gallery by saying what people want to hear yet perpetually lacking the character to 'walk the walk'. Politically, Lamido is now caught between a rock and a very hard place.

BlackTechnology:



You see the disadvantage of free amala education

1966 - 2019 will make it 53 yrs since the last Igbo Ironsi held real power.

1975- 2019 will make it 44 yrs since the last Northern Christian Gowon held real power.

A northerner is a northerner. To hell with religious dichotomy. There is no division in the north on the basis of religion. Gowon, a christian was installed by M. Mohammad, a moslem. M. Mohammad, a moslem was installed by Joe Garba, a christian.

OrlandoOwoh:

A northerner is a northerner. To hell with religious dichotomy. There is no division in the north on the basis of religion. Gowon, a christian was installed by M. Mohammad, a moslem. M. Mohammad, a moslem was installed by Joe Garba, a christian.

If there is no religion in the North, dress like a Muslim to JOS indigenous villages.


After 2wks come back and tell me your experience if you are not dead.

OrlandoOwoh:

Sule Lamido shouldn't be seen as coward even though the situation he finds himself makes him show some uncertainty. He has his son to protect. We all know how Jonathan went about using the EFCC against his son. If you read carefully, you will see where he mentioned EFCC.

Unfortunately, the tag of cowardice will stick to Lamido same as an animal who is always in the mud with Pigs will be called a Pig also. Do we forget 2010 so soon when Lamido was a vociferous opponent to GEJ's Presidential ambition only to then turn champion campaigner for Jonathan because of how selfish personal ambition made him believe supporting GEJ, against his innate conviction and original posture, means he would have a clear path to 2015? Lamido swallowed the "I will do one term" promise of GEJ and based all his actions on this insincere pledge GEJ had no intention of abiding with.

GEJ has now blatantly let Lamido and others down but we continue to see the lack of spine Lamido operates with because something else (corruption exposure against him and his family) is now holding him hostage today when he contradicted himself in 2011 and let many down because of personal ambition. It is obvious to many that there will always be one thing or the other to use in whipping Lamido in line as is always the case for unprincipled characters and charlatans. Laughable that Lamido now wants to portray himself a man who act in the interest of the greater good of Nigeria when intelligent political analysts will know his actions and capitulation shows an unprincipled character willing to follow the direction of the wind so long as that aids the pursuit of his personal agenda.

am just tired of PDP.. People Deceiving People

BlackTechnology:



You see the disadvantage of free amala education

1966 - 2019 will make it 53 yrs since the last Igbo Ironsi held real power.

1975- 2019 will make it 44 yrs since the last Northern Christian Gowon held real power.

Dunce.


All the igbo speaking states were being rule by aliens for all those period.?

Caseless:
that was when the mistake was made and, it must be corrected in 2015.
That pamby-namby called gej must go!

Dream on. 2015 will be a landslide. You wan bet?