Former governor of Jigawa State, Alhaji Sule Lamido, has been an active participant in Nigeria’s politics since the Second Republic, winning election as member, House of Representatives, representing Birnin Kudu Constituency from 1979 to 1983. In this interview with Ahmad Datti, Lamido accused the PDP leadership of working for incumbent President Bola Tinubu against the party and dares the party to sanction him for associating with the ADC.
You have repeatedly said that you will not leave the PDP, but you have been openly associating with the coalition. Are you moving to the ADC?
Look, the PDP has a history, and its foundation, the founding fathers had a vision for Nigeria, a vision for a country first united, then democratic, secure, stable, and prosperous.
This was the kind of dream, vision behind the formation of PDP. At that time, the country was not united, arising from the June 12 annulment. It’s very, very important, because there is no way you can have a country when the components don’t trust each other.
It was populated by leaders and thinkers, the likes of Adamu Ciroma, Alex Ekwueme, Abubakar Rimi , Jim Nwobodo at that time to address the issue of June 12 when Abacha was trying to transform into a civilian president. So, there should be a distinction between the June 12 saga, all right, which was within the phase of the Babangida administration, and the military leadership of Abacha.
So, the people who are now in government, who are making this noise, claiming they fought for democracy, had no hand whatsoever in what was a real victory. All of them, they had no hand, because they were hands in gloves with Babangida
When Abacha took over and they failed to negotiate what they wanted from Abacha, NADECO was born and NADECO also had leaders, people like Pa Adesanya, Ayo Opadokun ,Afefenife secretary I think his name was Odumakin, Dan Suleiman, played very prominent roles in NADECO.
So, you know, the others are simply, you know, appendages. But the main movement of NADECO were Pa Adesanya, you understand, Ayo Opadokun, Dan Suleiman and some others.
NADECO was fighting for June 12 and victory not the victor. They are not the same thing, the victor and the victory, because the victor was Abiola.
To me, PDP is my legacy. It’s my heritage. And I am very, very emotional about it because I went to prison because of it. Abacha locked me up. He harassed, you know, Iyorchia Ayu, Jerry Gana, Adamu Ciroma, Solomon Lar who were willing then to fight him to restore democracy in Nigeria.
So, the G9 made more contribution in restoring democracy in Nigeria more than NADECO because the NADECO company was tribal, and sectional. The G9, as you know, is a national thing that was the background.
Therefore, when you ask who caused the PDP’s crisis of today, I would say the people who are in charge, who failed to run the party based on its own rules, regulation, and constitution. If the party is being run based on our rules, regulation, and constitution, there will not be anything called a crisis. So, it is a breach of discipline in the leadership of the party. The breach of these rules was caused by indiscipline. And that has made the party very, very chaotic. Obviously, you know, frustration comes in. You now, lose hope in PDP, naturally. Unfortunately, the leaders are now being controlled by Wike. So, that’s why, to me, there should be a coalition. A coalition in APC and a coalition in ADC.
Within the PDP, Wike and his loyal friends, or G5 are fighting for APC coalition. They are fighting for APC within the PDP, and they are not being disciplined because they came openly. Ortom came openly. So, also, it’s something which is known. and the party will not sanction them. And they are undermining PDP for APC. I will save the party, and fight them, and also make sure that, Nigerians interest prevailthrough AD, it’s as simple as that.
Do you believe the ADC coalition is really capable of unseating the ruling APC?
What is the alternative? Tinubu and Wike? And his group? No, tell me what is the alternative? That Nigeria should simply surrender to people like Tinubu, Wike and the others. That’s all, that’s what we believe in.
Even those who are in APC?
It’s only Tinubu, those who were APC have all left APC.
The Elrufais, the Malamis, even the Pantamis, you know. Elrufai said we are sorry, and we are in the coalition, to fight what we brought to Nigeria.
So, APC has only Tinubu as an emperor, it’s his interest that is being projected. Therefore, when people in PDP are now trying to surrender PDP to Tinubu, it means they are surrendering our legacy, our history, our heritage. And I will not allow that. That’s why I say I am part of the coalition. I am in the middle of the coalition, and I believe in it, because it is something more nationalistic. It’s something which is a better understanding of Nigeria and Nigeria’s situation.
The other side, people who are in PDP who are fighting are fighting for Tinubu. So, what I am saying is that if PDP fails, it is because PDP failed to sanction its members when they committed a kind of treason against the party. And therefore, there is no discipline.
There is no rule of law in PDP. So, I will stay behind and fight. I am hand in gloves with the ADC. I mean, they are my partners. You know, I am with them. But then, I will fight, I will not surrender. I will not simply surrender to Tinubu. Because if we do so, then it means we have all surrender. Therefore, we are here to take over. Take over our heritage.
Many people are saying that the coalition is an association of strange bedfellows. That only frustrated politicians are actually embracing the coalition, are you worried?
People saying so are people who have no ideological history. Ninety-nine percent of the people in the ADC members of the PDP. Ninety-nine percent, I mean, all of them. Look, anyone who was anybody between 1999 and 2014 was PDP. So, the coalition is simply of all PDP members.
You should get this very, very clear.
The ADC, by its own composition, is almost 90% PDP between 1999 and 2014. So, they are not only in unity and harmony, they are also brothers and sisters. The people in ADC are brothers and sisters because they have been together. They are not new to each other. The one which was a strange bedfellow were the one of APC, which was formed in 2014.
Who are those strange bedfellows? Buhari, who was from CPC, Tinubu, from ACN. You know, and others. There is no party today with the kind of, you know, political blending, with political harmony and right chemistry. Imagine if there was no ADC. All of us who were in PDP between 1999 and 2014 are now in ADC. And those who left PDP and went to APC are now back in ADC.
As you can see there is a change in nomenclature, but we are brothers and sisters. We live in Nigeria because We were able to save Nigeria between 1999 and 2014. And We remain in PDP. We are not under ADC.
It appears the coalition is preoccupied with defeating the ruling APC without a blue print to address Nigeria’s many challenges?
I don’t think you really understand what is called Nigeria today. In 2014, these were the issues raised by APC. Insecurity, corruption and the economy.
They are the main things which propelled the APC in 2014, then, they were looking for somebody who is a saint. And they found Saint Buhari and put him there.
Were we better off in terms of security under Buhari? Are we better, off in terms of the economy under Buhari? Were we better off in terms of corruption under Buhari? No. Now we are worse. So, it means, when you are talking about these issues, you are simply referring to APC, not PDP. Not people in coalition. Because the people in coalition were the ones who saved Nigeria between 1999 and 2014. So don’t confuse APC, which came in to hoodwink Nigerians, purely through personal ambition.
They called Jonathan all kinds of names. They called him clueless. They called his wife, Hippopotamus, I mean, personal insults. I was called a Christian. I was called a pastor. To incite Nigerian Muslims against me, they came with this pseudo-purity of theirs. But, you know, it was only a lie. Now you can see the consequences under Buhari and under Tinubu
I am part of ADC. I will campaign for ADC. Whoever is their candidate, after their convention, I will go around. And there are a number of others in PDP now, who I know, who are my colleagues, who are my friends, you know, who have been there for a long time, who also share my same view that, you know, while our brotherhood is going to ADC, we are okay with them. Let us stay behind and also fight.
Should the PDP leadership succeed in uniting members? Will you reconsider this position?
The only way is to invoke the rules of the party. Punish those who are responsible. Punish them for doing what they did. If we had been following the rules of the party, by its constitution, we would not have been in this kind of situation. I mean, Wike came out openly, saying we are going to support Tinubu in 2027. Only about a month ago, they went to Tinubu. Didn’t you see them in the villa?
That we are going to support you. And then they are in PDP, what do you know about the leadership in PDP? They cannot be sanctioned for undermining the party.
It is because the party failed to operate by its own rules and regulations. That’s kind of a quagmire.
