Lamido: Nigeria is Bedevilled By So Much Anger, Disunity and Poverty

In this interview with Chuks Okocha, former two-time governor of Jigawa state, Alhaji Sule Lamido, analyses developments in both the ruling All Progressives Congress and the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party with and emphasised on the need to unite Nigerians in search for a new leadership ahead of the 2027 general election in the country.

It seems the opposition Peoples Democratic Party is gradually going into extinction. How will you and other founding fathers of the party bring back the party?

I feel highly agitated, highly concerned about events today in Nigeria. Our national security, our national economy, our national stability, our national cohesion. That bond of brotherhood and sisterhood have all gone. We are back to where we were in 1998 after the death of General Sani Abacha when PDP was formed. The difference then was that the economy was fairly stable and security was fairly stable. But economy and security can only be enjoyed if there is an environment where we mutually believe in each other, mutual trust and mutual respect because if there is no trust, if we don’t believe in each other as a people, as brothers and sisters, as Nigerians, no matter what you do, the economy will not be important to them.

It is this understanding of our peculiarities, our differences that make a country.

We must appreciate each other. These are the issues. If we are bonded, if there is mutual trust, then the issue of security and economy would be addressed.

So what was the situation in 1998 when PDP was formed, and now that Nigeria is facing huge security and economic crisis?

Before then, we had a united and stable country. So the first question is how do we deal with this issue of disunity in the country. That issue was what gave birth to PDP.

You know that at that time, we had leaders who were thinkers, who were exposed, who had seen it all, who believed in Nigeria passionately, who believed that Nigeria will be there for them when they are going. They were able to give to Nigeria what they got.

So, we met in Lagos, former Vice President Alex Ekwueme who is now late, former governor of Oyo State, Bola Ige who is also late, Senator Ella also late, late Mallam Adamu Ciroma, late Solomon Lar, Iyorchia Ayu, Jerry Gana and myself.

We sat down and discussed about the future because from the way it was being managed, it will not augur well for Nigeria. Nobody will be able to address that problem that will emanate from the situation under Abacha. We said that we don’t want another northerner like Abacha in power. So we made so many sacrifices and commitments for Nigeria so that we will be able to make Nigeria great.

So we can’t get leaders like Adamu Ciroma or Solomon Lar or Abubakar Rimi or Bola Ige or Alex Ekwueme or Senator Ellah, we can’t get them now.

So, what we need to do now are those things that can unite us. Suffering, poverty, hardship, lack of clear future are now the major challenges. Every body is feeling unconcerned. The poor man working on the street should be as concerned as Dangote who is a billionaire because we need to consider the interest of Nigeria first. The first thing we need to do is to establish mutual trust.

In 1998, we had leaders who came together to think of how to save Nigeria but now we don’t have them. Now that there is hunger, poverty, desperation in Nigeria which were brought by the APC under Muhammadu Buhari and Bola Tinubu. These are the issues.

If people are working and whether you are a Muslim or a Christian, if you are not happy in this country called Nigeria, we have been able to find a common unifying denominator.

How can PDP become the solution to these problems by APC in the next four years?

When you say APC, the party is not organized. APCs formation is not organic.

In APC, there are no thinkers what the APC have are power grabbers with a culture of hate. In PDP of course, we are not the best of parties, we made our mistakes and people are yet to forgive PDP.

But compare and contrast the years of PDP in government with that of APC, it is a two paged history. There are a lot of indicators you can look at: the economy, security etc. Those things which made you feel better under the PDP are many things that people look at and that is what made them to join PDP.

In any case, APC is still PDP, the people there are from PDP; Festus Keyamo PDP, Godwill Akpabio PDP, Abdullahi Adamu PDP. Kano State was PDP under Ganduje and all the key elements. People like Keyamo, you know he was a Minister under Buhari and remember what Ribadu said about Tinubu, the people in APC and mainly from PDP and some of their critics. May be by now they have seen the consequences of what they did but if they have not, so be it.

What I know is that Nigeria has been there for me and it gave me the opportunity to grow to my fullest potentials. To be a Nigerian student with honour and dignity, somebody who became Nigeria’s Foreign Minister, the country where I grew to be a governor, so I am hugely indebted to Nigeria. I will do anything to protect the interest of Nigeria.

Now go the National Assembly, former governors; go to the Ministries, former governors; are we the only Nigerians? Why cant we also give others space to grow and be like us?

Your party has been more than silent, what is preventing it from holding its NEC meeting?

 This malaise, ambivalence, docility of the PDP leadership is something they inherited. From the time of Vincent Ogbulafor who was forced out by Jonathan, thereafter governors started to appoint their lackeys and boys into leadership of the party.

From 1998 to 2007 under Obasanjo, we had Ekwueme, Solomon Lar, Gemade, Audu Ogbe, Amadu Ali. If you look, you will see that these are people who were at home with the history of the party and they were able to enforce their authority over the party.

But soon after Jonathan flushed out Ogbulafor because of his ambition, which in any case was not the fault of Ogbulafor.

The PDP governors who after a meeting said they needed to make a statement to address the northern environment and that in 2011 they are going to get a candidate from the northern basin. It was just a political statement and Jonathan took offence and removed Ogbulafor.

From then on, all the people that were in executive, were all minions of the governors who will protect their interest, so don’t blame the present executives.  All of them are nominees of former or serving governors and therefore they are more for their masters than for the party. Don’t blame them, that has been the pattern.

PDP as it is now is in the pocket of FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike. What is your relationship with Wike.

You will not believe it but I mean it, I see in him a huge potential but he is not properly refined. Wike is a future asset but he can’t go anywhere unless he is properly guided and refined by people who understands what  is called leadership. So, if he looking for what is going to enter his own pocket, I have no problems with that but is it fair to pocket your own mother?

When he said he paid money to the party and bla bla bla, I say do you buy wrapper for your mama? Before she gave birth to you, was she wearing wrapper? Before she gave birth to you, was she going naked? So before Wike started, was the party naked?  He met a party that was established, which was being financed, so financing your party because you are a governor is not a big deal. And if you don’t support your party, who will you support?

So I don’t think Wike should pocket PDP because you can’t pocket your own mother. Before Wike, PDP was being financed, before Wike PDP was buying wrapper to cover its nakedness.

So what is holding PDP from holding its NEC meeting?

I don’t know.

As a stakeholder and a founding father, are you saying you don’t know what is stalling PDP NEC meeting?

I have no idea. The party has a constitution, a tradition, a norm it is operating. There are some items that are clearly stated that you must do so and so thing within a stipulated period of time for NEC meeting, NWC meeting, Convention and other things. So it is for them to follow the constitution, that’s all.

So you are not worried?

I can’t carry the entire thing about PDP on my head but I worry about it.

As 2027 gets closer, what role will character, money and personality play in PDP politics?

We are back to the same scenario in 1998 when we formed PDP. What were we looking for in a Nigerian President in 1999?

We were looking for somebody with a very huge profile, somebody with the capacity, somebody who will be able to rewrite Nigerian history from what we went through from June 12 and Abacha. These were the qualities we were looking out for.

Then we looked at the parties and we said, which party will fit it. So, we are back to where we were in 1998 because in Nigeria now there is disunity, there is so much poverty, there is so much anger, there is so much hate, people are becoming too satanic.

So if we are going to save Nigeria then we need to know the quality of the candidate first. It must be somebody with a big character and morally sound.