By Aliyu Dangida
Former Jigawa State Governor Alhaji Sule Lamido has said that Nigeria needs a nationalist as president in 2023 to heal the deep divisions caused by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
“We want a country where every Nigerian can live in peace”.
What will we do to reestablish Nigerians’ common bond/trust?
In response to his rhetorical question, he stated that democracy was one of such ways, but that democracy should also be capable of healing or solving the nation’s problems.
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According to Lamido, even America, which is seen as the world’s bastion of democracy, is offended if other democracies do not align with their interests, claiming that “they truncate democracy in other countries that are not in tune with their foreign policies.” They did it in Nigeria in 1990, as well as in Palestine and Egypt.”
“Democracy should be able to address your needs,” he said. People in Nigeria now talk about the right to vote and the right to aspire,” and that in order to enthrone trust and peace, we in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) barred other zones from contesting for the presidency and then allowed a specific zone to agree to give us the presidency. The PDP is a party of leaders and citizens who care about the country and believe in fairness and justice.”
He stated that they agreed to rotate the presidency to the south-west and that “that alone made an impact because when the other two political parties, AD and APP, had their conventions, Olu Falae emerged as AD’s presidential candidate and Ogbonaya Onu emerged as APP’s.”
He stated that having seen the wisdom in what the PDP had done, Falae was chosen to represent the APP instead of Onu.
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However, he claimed that in the PDP, the focus was on “identifying a Yoruba Nigerian President,” rather than a Yoruba president who would serve the interests of his people.
“Every time we say give us a president they will either give us Olu Falae, or Abraham Adesanya or Bola Ige, and by their history, by their disposition and by their pronouncements they are not really seen as pan-Nigerian candidates. We said no, we will not accept.”
He said they then opted of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo because “we know Obasanjo who has a track history of being a pan-Nigerian; somebody who ruled Nigeria after the civil war and has been there for Nigeria “
During the election, he stated, “Obasanjo promised to be there for all Nigerians, and that is what we wanted, that is somebody who will be there for all Nigerians and not just for a specific section of Nigeria.”
He stated that two years into Obasanjo’s presidency, in 1999, Nigeria had been thoroughly healed, thoroughly reconciled, and thoroughly restored, and our image and role in the world had been thoroughly restored. We were respected and wielded tremendous power, and we became a leader for the black race in Africa and around the world.”
All of these gains, according to Lamido, were washed away when the Buhari administration took over. “All of these gains have now been washed away as a result of the APC government. It has restored the issue of division between a father and a son, between a brother and a brother,” claiming that the APC is only capable of causing mischief and has destroyed Nigeria.
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In terms of the type of person who should be elected president in 2023, he stated that the question is whether the country has been “fully healed to the point where we can now go for merit.” That is the question because there was a reason in 1999 to sacrifice quality in favor of something that could assuage, pacify, and restore love. Are we finally reconciled after 20 years?”
He stated that if Nigerians claim to have fully reconciled, the nation could go for merit, stating that “after 20 years we should be able to go for quality but then you see the party in government has vilified everybody and has destroyed our common bond and we are back where we were in 1999; that is why this clamor for North and South, Christian and Moslem.”
Lamido stated that he would reveal the type of person he wants to be president only after full reconciliation.