Former Jigawa State governor, Sule Lamido, has publicly accused governors elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of blocking his attempt to contest for the party’s national chairmanship position.
In an interview with the BBC Hausa Service, Lamido alleged that 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 claimed that the chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum, Bauchi State governor Bala Mohammed, personally called him and asked him to step down. Lamido quoted Mohammed as saying, “My elder brother, you are stronger than us. If we make you chairman, we can’t influence you.” Lamido countered this by stressing the party’s long history, telling the governor that the party should not be controlled by one person.
Lamido explained that despite obtaining a court order to allow him into the race, the governors filed an appeal and still refused to obey the order.
Consequently, he rejected the leadership that emerged from the recent convention, where Tanimu Turaki was named national chairman, describing the entire process as “unacceptable” and declaring the convention “null and void.”
The former governor urged senior stakeholders, including former President Olusegun Obasanjo, to intervene, help reorganize the PDP, and return the party to its founding values to strengthen Nigeria’s democracy.
This situation highlights a significant internal conflict within the PDP.
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