Congresses for the nomination of Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP) candidates for the Houses of Assembly election in 2015 took
place nationwide on Saturday, November 29, 2014. Governor Sule Lamido
joined his fellow delegates to participate in the exercise in Birnin
Kudu, Jigawa State. Lamido later spoke to Sunday Vanguard on some political issues. Excerpts:
Will you support the president fully during the campaigns, or will you play ‘siddon look?’
What we are going through today in Nigeria should go beyond
partisan politics. Only yesterday, there were bomb blasts in Kano. How
many people died? How many were injured? People in their place of
worship. No matter how you see it, sometimes there are difficult
situations. My party and my Federal Government must assist me in
ensuring my safety. Right now, we are overwhelmed by grief.
Government must be seen to have the political will and commitment to
confront this insurgency. Even though I believe in Nigeria, I am also
coming from a political environment. And when a certain arrangement
seems to be undermining me, ignoring the circumstances under which I
live in my environment, it becomes very, very difficult for me to give
the required political support.
Government should also be willing and
able to encourage me to support it. It should be able to provide me the
comfort I need. Immediately after the Kano mosque bombing, text
messages began to circulate.People are saying, ‘the North should not
forgive Murtala Nyako, Shehu Shema, Sule Lamido and Isa Yuguda’, they
listed four governors for supporting President Goodluck Jonathan to be
president in 2011.
Are they saying that the president is connected with the bomb blasts?
You see, as human beings, when you are going through frustration, and
you are literally overwhelmed, you can get disoriented and over-react.
Otherwise, what do the bomb blasts have to do with the 2011 election? I
am coming from a tribe, from a region and from an environment, and these
types of things drain me of all moral authority, all political
authority. And, therefore, when things are not working very well, I am
one of those people hold accountable. I am part of the leadership of
the country and so my people hold me accountable.
When people like Edwin Clark say people of the South-South are
angry with the North for being against their son, it diminishes my
contribution to the making of the Jonathan presidency. When people are
overwhelmed by hopelessness, they can take it out on anybody who is
around, and people will now be making reckless statements. I must be
given the moral authority, and things must be decisively checked. And
people should not be making reckless statements. We need to work towards
a Nigeria for all Nigerians, not northern Nigeria or southern Nigeria.
People should be defending the interests of Nigeria, not just the
interests of their regions and abusing people who are from the other
side.
