The Jigawa state governor, Sule Lamido,
has responded to the recent decision of former president Olusegun
Obasanjo to dump the PDP. He said that Obasanjo is an icon and a
political father to most office holders in the ruling Peoples Democratic
Party, despite Mr. Obasanjo dumping the party.
Speaking with journalists at the
Presidential Villa, after a private meeting with President Goodluck
Jonathan, Lamido said that even though some of Obasanjo’s political
godsons must have angered him, dumping the party in the way he did was
not the best move.
“Baba is more than a party man. He is an
icon, a national symbol and a leader and an inventor, a creator of all
the institutions today in Nigeria from the presidency to the governors
who are his own sons, are all his creations. And so, when a father is
angry with his own children, we will only say we are sorry to him. But
then we cannot be renounced for whatever it is.
“No matter what we are, we may not be
able to live up to his expectations. We might have made some mistakes,
but abandoning us is not the solution because the country is first
before anything else. So, he is our baba even up to the president. Baba
is our baba no matter what. He is angry with us, but then, what do we
do? He gave us the life at a time when Nigerians were fighting us, he
stood for us.
“Since 2011, in 2007, he stood firm for
us. He is our father. And so, if we made some mistakes, we are only
human because we are heading human institutions. And I think by the time
he reflects, how could he abandon his own children like that. Wherever
we are, we are right in his heart. He feels for us, he cares for us.”
According to reports, Lamido said that if even if reconciliation moves are ongoing, he would not publicly announce it.
“When there is some kind of
misunderstanding between a father and a child, you don’t go to NTA or
any other media to say you are going to do this. I mean the bond between
us is so strong. I know he is equally pained. I know what he is going
through because he is our father. But I will not tell you the strategy
because when he was producing us, you were not there; when he was making
us, were you there?”
On claims by some PDP leaders that they won’t miss him, he said “But then, the first child is the President, did he say so?”
Asked whether he was worried by Mr.
Obasanjo’s consistent criticisms of Jonathan’s administration, Mr.
Lamido explained “What I am saying is that all of us are parents. When
we were born, they pampered us; gave us their love; gave us everything.
By the time they get old, naturally, there is what they call role
reversal. We became the parents and they became the children. So, what
is wrong if our parents begin to manifest those signs of old age?”
Commenting on the activities of the
opposition All Progressives Congress in the country, the Jigawa state
governor said, “What is this opposition in Nigeria? You must know
Nigerian history. Nigeria cannot be governed by an aggregate of pain,
anger and frustration. And I have been saying to those so-called
opposition who are now abusing us, whatever might have been our crime,
it was that crime that made them. We created that for them to become
either governors, in the legislature , we created room for them to
emerge. So whatever they think is our evil, they are the manifestations
of the evil. Believe me, you don’t know Nigeria.”
On the chances of the PDP retaining
power at the rescheduled March/April general elections, he said “I don’t
doubt it because what is APC? An amalgamation of pain, anger and
desperation. And this country is too big for them.”
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