I won't attend PDP meetings until Wike, Ortom are expelled - Sule Lamido
Former governor of Jigawa State, Sule Lamido, has vowed not to attend any meeting of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, until FCT Minister Nyesom Wike and former governor of Benue State Samuel Ortom are expelled.
Mr Lamido disclosed this during an interview with select journalists.
The former minister of foreign affairs lamented the lack of discipline of members working against the interest of the party.
Recalling his stewardship as national secretary of the Social Democratic Party, Mr Lamido said: “During our time, the party was supreme.
“It held full authority, and everyone respected it, whether in the North, South, East, or West. Anyone — no matter how influential — who crossed the party line would be sanctioned.
“Today, people openly working against the PDP are still being tolerated. “Someone like Wike, who claims to love the PDP but is clearly undermining it, should be expelled by the NWC. Why hasn’t that happened?
“Look at the Board of Trustees (BOT). People like Ortom, who declared support for Peter Obi in 2023, are still members.
“That’s why I’ve said I will not attend any PDP meeting unless Wike is expelled and people like Ortom are removed from the BOT. I remain a PDP member, but I will not participate in party functions or answer calls to meetings while these individuals remain in leadership.
“How can I sit with someone like Ortom in the BOT to discuss the future of PDP? Or someone like Anyanwu, who is rejected in his own zone and now being imposed by another zone? These are impostors.”
The elder statesman described the FCT minister as an ingrate, bent on destroying the PDP, which he noted was the platform that brought him to political relevance.
“Here is someone who was honoured by the PDP, brought into relevance by the PDP, and now turns around to fight the very party that made him. Wike is, quite frankly, a disaster. “What he has done is un-African and un-Nigerian.
“I don’t understand how someone, simply because of his own ambition, can take things so personally and act so destructively. There used to be a party culture that prioritized collective good — something altruistic — but that seems lost now.
“To seal the PDP secretariat — a party that produced you, nurtured you — no matter your grievances, no matter your bitterness, it’s like destroying your own home.
“He claims he financed the party. “But is it wrong for a son to take care of his own mother? Does it now mean the mother must submit to the son and take orders from him simply because he’s providing her clothing?
“Wike is thinking in a very warped way. He lacks the values and traditions that define our political culture. I’m glad, however, that President Tinubu intervened.
“The office was reopened by his order. The very man Wike is trying to please by destroying his own political family is the one saying, “No, you can’t do that.”
“So, in a way, Tinubu has exposed him — showing that Wike is unreliable, without tradition, without pedigree. And now, Tinubu too may likely abandon him very soon,” he added.