A former Minister of Foreign Affairs, and two term Governor of Jigawa State, Alhaji Sule Lamido, has delivered a damning verdict on the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike and other members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) serving in the President Bola Tinubu administration, stating that they were unhappy where they currently found themselves......Read The Full Article>>.....Read The Full Article>>
Reminiscing on political developments in the country ahead of the celebration of 25 years of unbroken democracy since 1999, Lamido, a founding member of PDP, also disclosed that the governing All Progressives Congress (APC) is a paralysed arm of the PDP. In an exclusive interview with Sunday Telegraph, Lamido lamented the state of affairs in the country, noting that it was at variance with the dreams of Nigeria’s founding fathers. “Before us, we had our own forefathers who founded Nigeria. They include Obafemi Awolowo, Tafawa Balewa, Ahmadu Bello and Nnamdi Azikiwe, all of blessed memory. They were really the people, who dreamt about this country. They fought for, and got our independence because they were educationally and culturally grounded.
“In their vision, they saw the future of a country, which was endowed by God with a lot of natural resources, and above all, human resources population. Therefore, we were expected to harness those resources for the development of our people. But that have paled off.” On the loss of the 2015 polls, Lamido said PDP members destroyed the party hence the advent of ineffective opposition today. “In 2015, who defeated the PDP? It was Sola Adeyemo IBADAN “ In order to end insecurity, enhance people’s welfare and ensure the sustenance of Nigeria as one of the top investments’ destinations in Africa as desired by the government, there is the urgent need by the Federal Government and security agencies to be more innovative and decisive”, said the renowned pan-Yoruba socio-cultural and socio-political organization, Afenifere. The group’s position, in a statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Comrade Jare Ajayi, made available to Sunday Telegraph in Ibadan, stemmed from the recent reports of banditry and kidnapping in Ogun, Edo, Ekiti, Oyo, Kogi, Zamfara and Niger states, which made a research the PDP people…If you put together all the opposition parties we had at that time, they couldn’t beat the PDP. No matter how they tried, the votes of the ACN, ANPP, CPC and all the rest put together can’t beat PDP. Which means, it was PDP which defeated PDP; a former President, a former Vice President, (some) governors, (former) ministers went into APC.
“If I’m to oppose, whom do I oppose now? My own party man, who destroyed his own party? My other half, which is paralyzed? Right now, the Senate President is who? He’s Godwill Akpabio, the ‘Uncommon Governor’ of the PDP. He is not an ordinary member of the APC. The current Chairman of the APC, who is he? He’s a former Deputy Governor of Kano State under the PDP.
So, when you say opposition party, who is opposing who? Tell me, who else has been in position of authority since APC came to power who doesn’t have his roots in PDP, except for President Bola Tinubu and his men from CAN. Who were the ANPP people that joined them? Only about four of them were governors in 2014. “In fact, the entire government machinery in 2015 was PDP. Yet, some left the party and joined APC, a small tiny party and breathed life into it.
So, when you say opposition, whom do I oppose? Godswill Akpabio or Abdulahi Ganduje?” He blamed the poor development of the country on failure to follow the process and the constitution, adding that development often eludes any country that ignores its ground rules or Constitution. “So, we must have abiding faith in our Constitution, which serves as a guidance. By following its provisions and doing the right things, we can develop our country.
It requires patience, commitment, sacrifice and patriotism for us to build for the future” Therefore, instead of the Constitution amendment, he said Nigerian leaders and the people must change their attitude first, be united, do the right thing and maybe, in the next 50 years, the next generation would build on what we have done.
