Chuks Okocha in Abuja
Former Minister of Foreign Affairs and two-time governor of Jigawa State, Sule Lamido, has said that hunger and poverty would be the determining factor for Nigerians in electing the next set of leaders in 2027.
Lamido also said that character and personality will play a more crucial role than money in 2027, stressing however that both the administration of Muhammadu Buhari and that of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu have dragged the nation 20 years back as disunity, and hatred pervade the land.
The former Minister, who said he could not explain why his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) could not adhere to its constitution by holding the National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting quarterly, urged the party leadership to summon the NEC meeting, adding that it is constitutionally stipulated that the meeting should be held quarterly.
Lamido said the impunity within the PDP was due to the governors’ decision to ensure that their lackeys were brought into office without regard to integrity and capabilities
Lamido who spoke in an interview with THISDAY, said that the PDP will not go into any merger with any other political party because they only want to grab power and not to improve on the welfare of Nigerians.
According to him, “The determining factors for the presidential election in 2027 would be how the poor and the rich survived and how insecurity was addressed within the years preceding the elections.
“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.
“These will be the determining factors. 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 Abacha when PDP was formed. The difference then was that the economy was fairly stable and security was fairly stable. But the economy and security can only be enjoyed if there is an environment where we mutually believe in each other, and there is 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 will not be business as usual. How did the poor survive and how did the rich manage to stay afloat in this biting and harsh economic activity? How did the people survive the increasing inflationary trends? The absence of bread in the streets of France was one of the basic reasons that necessitated the French Revolution.
“The people will certainly ask questions. It is a three-page scenario. One page is for the PDP era in government another page is for the APC era in government and the third page is for Nigerians to compare and contrast. Mark my words, it would not be business as usual. Questions would be asked and answers must be given. What happens to the economy and what happens that there are more poor Nigerians and the rich are getting richer?
“What happens is that there is too much insecurity in Nigeria. Who are those Nigerians behind the gruesome inter-ethnic rivalry? Who are those stoking the crisis? These are questions that would be brought to the table when the time comes,” he stressed.
He explained that within that period, “character and personality will play much more crucial role than money as Nigerians would look for a pan-nationalist who will unite the country more than someone that will be throwing money around. Questions will be asked and answers will be given,” he stated
Speaking on why the PDP has crept to such a level of impunity, he blamed the governors of the party that settled for mediocrity, instead of competence and integrity.
He asked: “Who was the first chairman of the PDP? Was it, not the former vice president, the late Dr. Alex Ekwueme who was succeeded by the late Solomon Lar, then we have Audu Ogbeh, Barnabas Gemade and later Ahmadu Ali and others.
“But what do we have subsequently? You know what we have because the governors elected on the platform of the party fund the party and now dictate the pace. They nominate their lackeys who will protect their interests. So, in the process, there is no longer integrity and competence. This is what is happening in the PDP. You can compare the quality in the earlier part of the PDP as a political party and what we have now. Again, compare and contrast and it will not take you time to know why the PDP is in such a situation. We will reinvent the party,” he added.
On the merger of political parties, the former governor of Jigawa State dismissed the talks of alliances and mergers saying, “Mark my words; there won’t be any merger. Let me put it this way, PDP will not be part of any merger. We are organic.
“PDP was formed as the party for the people. That is why we are the people’s party. Other political parties are just a party to grab power. They are not ideologically driven. Check the APC for instance, the former national chairman, Senator Abdullahi Adamu was a former governor of Nasarawa State and a PDP member. The incumbent chairman of APC was elected a former deputy governor of Kano State. He was a PDP member. This is what I am saying that these political parties were just formed for a power grab. There is no background ideology. What did these leaders stand for than to grab power?
“Look at the APC and the subsequent transformation from 1998 to date, can you count the stage past so far. It is because of the quest for power grab. PDP is organic. There is no ward out of the 774 wards that you cannot find the PDP. We are rooted in the people. So, we are organic”, he explained
On the allegations that the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike has pocketed the PDP, he said: “Wike is an asset to the party, but he needs to be refined in his ways.
“If you say that you bought clothes or wrappers for your mother, does it mean that before you were born your mother was without clothes? Someone has to fund the party, once in a while, but you cannot say because you fund the party, you claim that you are above the party. Let me tell you, the party is supreme and no individual is above the party.
“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,” Lamido explained.
