By Lateef Ibrahim
A former Jigawa State Governor, Sule Lamido, has accused governors elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of blocking his attempt to contest for the party’s national chairmanship.
Lamido made the allegation in an interview with the BBC Hausa Service, monitored in Abuja, saying the governors refused to give him a nomination form and also ignored a court order that directed the party to allow him to contest.
He said the chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum and Bauchi State governor, Bala Mohammed, personally called him and asked him to step down because the governors believed he would be too independent if elected chairman.
According to Lamido, “Bala, the governor of Bauchi, called and said, ‘My elder brother, you are stronger than us. If we make you chairman, we can’t influence you.’
He said he responded by reminding the governor of the party’s long history.
“I told him, ‘When PDP was formed, you were not there. The party with history should not be controlled by one person,’” he added.
Lamido explained that despite securing a court order compelling the PDP to allow him into the race, the governors still refused to obey it and instead filed an appeal.
He also rejected the leadership that emerged from the recent convention, where Tanimu Turaki was named national chairman.
He described the entire process as unacceptable.
“That convention is null and void,” he said.
The former governor urged senior stakeholders, including former President Olusegun Obasanjo, to intervene and help reorganise the PDP.
He said the party needed to return to its founding values to strengthen Nigeria’s democracy and development.
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