Flays regular defections by politicians, says mafia has taken over oil sector
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From Mohammed Abubakar Dutse
A former governor of Jigawa State, Dr Sule Lamido, has come down hard on politicians who are fond of dumping their original parties as mere inventions, describing them as lacking strong ideological convictions and without a sound political base.
Sharing his thoughts on various burning national issues with newsmen in Dutse, the state capital, after presiding over the inauguration of the 2027 PDP Governorship Campaign Council at the weekend, the former Minister of Foreign Affairs, who is one of the last men standing among the foundation members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), said:
Reacting to the current debate between supporters of the former vice-president and presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, and the presidency on the imperative of returning the jettisoned petroleum subsidy, he described it as unnecessary and a fight among members of the same mafia group.
According to him, the current failure in the oil sector was a fallout of the breakdown of law and order, noting that if the government could ensure that law and order are guaranteed, all other issues would be resolved without delay.
He said: “Let me start by saying during the Jonathan era, there was a semblance of law and order and therefore, the subsidy, whether they remove it or not, the money was coming to us directly. The issue now has become very controversial and contentious. To me, the issue of energy or fuel subsidy and security and poverty in the country are not properly handled by all sides because it’s all about law and order. If there’s law and order, the money being generated from the fuel subsidy could go down to the people because nobody would be allowed to steal the money.”
“But because there’s no law and order, the money is being cornered by a few people. Therefore, I can tell you that it’s a kind of mafia thing. Either way, it would be beneficial to the people as there’s no enforcement of law and order, which also has created the hydra-headed banditry, Boko Haram and corruption.”
“In Nigeria today, people don’t obey common traffic lights, so how do you build a nation like that? Therefore, to me, Tinubu, Atiku and Peter Obi are merely scratching the issue on the surface talking about the symptoms without addressing the causes. The root cause is the indiscipline, lack of law and order and the courage to enforce same, if not, who are the bandits?”
“Because Nigeria is not able to enforce law and order, that’s the bane of our people problem. If I’m running for the president I would not say anything about subsidy or insecurity, I would say to Nigerians, give me your votes and I’d guarantee you the enforcement of law and order. When you do that the issue of those stealing your money would not be there anymore.”
“So, I don’t think those shouting it would have the courage to enforce law and order because their people are the main beneficiaries of the current rot. In a nutshell, APC, ADC, NDC are all parts of our problems because all the monies are being siphoned by their people.”
The former governor argued that the current hardship being experienced across the country was human-imposed, noting that the country had the resources and the manpower, maintaining: “We can if we wish, but then the poverty is induced by the leaders who only circulate the money among themselves.”
He cited a former minister who was allegedly linked to a stolen property worth more than N20 billion, asking what is the total budget of that ex-minister’s home state. He also made a veiled reference to a former Accountant-General of the Federation who was linked to the alleged theft of over N140 billion as well as the immediate past CBN governor who was linked to more than 700 houses, all as a fallout of the absence of law and order.
Commenting on the recent inclusion of prominent opposition political figures, like the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) minister and chieftain of the PDP, Nyesom Wike, Anambra State Governor Chukwuma Soludo of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and his Osun State counterpart and chieftain of the Accord Party (AP), Sen. Ademola Adeleke, as members of the APC’s Presidential Campaign Council (PCC), the former governor described it as a sign of moral degeneration amongst Nigeria’s political class.
He said: “You see, in a place where there’s no moral radar, where anything goes, what do you expect? I mean we’ve lost our self-worth, we’ve lost our essence as humans, we’re just like at war and we can do anything anyhow. If not, how can somebody in APGA, PDP and Accord go and support APC, but then, this is Nigeria for you. What that tells you is that we’re in big trouble in this country,” he said.
Weighing in on the debate surrounding the formation of a rainbow coalition between the FCT minister and governors of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Lamido said he does not believe in it, describing himself as a PDP person in body and spirit, but quickly added that this was not the first time such a coalition was being formed.
For instance, he recalled that some notable PDP chieftains such as Atiku, Kwankwaso, Sen. Bukola Saraki, among others, broke ranks to vote for APC during the 2015 general elections that brought the late President Muhammadu Buhari to power.
According to him: “If Atiku, Kwankwaso, Saraki and others voted for APC against the PDP in 2015, is that not a rainbow coalition? It is the same rainbow coalition when people in one political party vote for another party. But I’ve been consistent, I have been myself as I am grounded in my ideological conviction, whereby we believe that politics is all about human development, human empathy, human dignity, decency, it’s not a personal enterprise, looking for positions.”
He reiterated his doubts whether the current efforts by the opposition parties to dislodge President Tinubu would succeed, noting all the actors had the same character as the president. He argued that the emergence of the APC in power in 2015 would not have succeeded without the collusion of some PDP stalwarts.
“What I’m saying is that if you’re talking about APC, by 2014, what was the composition of the APC? It was the cocktail of PDP, ACN, CPC and ANPP and I’ve been saying that ACN alone would not have conceived it, it had to be seduced by the PDP to be impregnated for Buhari. So, Buhari was the illegal son of PDP. All those who went to APC in 2014 were all PDP people because it was the PDP that made sure that APC won the election in 2015.”
“When you look at the elections of 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011, the votes that PDP alone got were more than all put together, so, no matter how you call it, there’s no way those parties would win the election. So, when you talk about Tinubu, he was in ACN, has he changed? It’s the same Tinubu, when you talk about Atiku, he contested elections under PDP in 2023, has he changed? He remains the same Atiku, Obi contested vice-president in 2019 under PDP, then presidency in 2023 under Labour Party and today under NDC, has he changed? I don’t believe so.”
“So, you have personalities that are moving around from one party to the other at every slight opportunity, changing nomenclature, but have they changed their character, that is the main issue. You have the likes of Wike today, you’ll discover that in the next elections he’ll be in the APC family. So, to me, all that’s happening is a family civil war which does not concern me as such.”
Asked why he has remained in PDP since the inception of the Fourth Republic in 1999, despite the turbulence in the party, Lamido attributed it to his ideological orientation from the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP). He boasted it was only himself and his former Kaduna State counterpart, Sen. Ahmed Makarfi, that were groomed in the PRP ideological tradition.
His words: “In the entire Nigerian history, it’s only myself and Makarfi that are from the PRP ideological background, others have no ideological political backgrounds and that’s why you see them moving from one party to another at any slightest opportunity.”
“Therefore, I can confidently tell you that I came from a solid ideological background, which means that I’ve got a solid history that I can’t do certain things, those who have been moving from party to party have no political background that both Makarfi and I had from the PRP, others are inventions.”
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