Lamido: Why I Was Forced to Drag PDP to Court

 

Former Jigawa State Governor, Sule Lamido, says it remains a painful personal decision to have taken the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to court, insisting that the injustice he suffered left him with no alternative.

Lamido had secured a court judgment halting the PDP’s national convention slated for November 15–16 after he was denied access to the nomination form to contest the position of National Chairman. Despite the ruling, the party proceeded with the convention, an action Lamido has dismissed as “null and void.”

“I went to court because I was denied the form to participate in the contest for National Chairman. There was no reason given; it was simply blocked,” he said.

Describing the crisis engulfing the party as “painful and unfortunate,” Lamido noted that he never envisaged a day he would have to challenge the same party that had offered him a platform for decades.

According to him, his exclusion was orchestrated by PDP governors who were uncomfortable with his independent disposition and feared he would not succumb to undue influence if elected chairman.

He specifically accused Bauchi State Governor and Chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum, Bala Mohammed, of leading the move to edge him out of the race.

“Bala Mohammed personally called me and said, ‘My senior brother, you are too strong for us. If you become the national chairman, we cannot own and control you.’ I reminded him that when the PDP was formed in 1999, he was not even around. Many of us laboured to build this party from scratch,” Lamido recounted.

The former governor also narrated how he was prevented from obtaining the nomination form.

“We went there and found the office locked. There was no means to obtain the form. That was why I went to court to seek redress,” he said.

He expressed deep worry over the state of the party and the manner in which internal democracy had been eroded.

“This is a party that has given me opportunities, and I have served it with loyalty. But the injustice was too much to overlook,” he added.

The convention eventually produced Kabiru Turaki, SAN, as National Chairman — in an exercise boycotted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Lamido insists the party cannot make progress when fairness and due process are sacrificed for political convenience.