Sule Lamido: PDP made me everything I am — I want to pay back by running for president

Sule Lamido, former governor of Jigawa, says he owes “everything” to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Lamido said this in Abakaliki, Ebonyi state capital, when he led his campaign team on a courtesy visit to governor David Umahi.

The former governor said he would accept the PDP’s decision on its torchbearer for the 2019 presidential election, saying he was not desperate for the position of Nigeria’s president.

Lamido urged the PDP to concentrate on nominating its best candidate for the position, noting that the party is blessed with talented and patriotic Nigerians who would represent it and the country equitably.

“I will administer a new direction for Nigeria if nominated because I aspire to unite Nigerians and make the country prosperous and secure,” he said.

“I believe that I am qualified to win the party’s nomination because I am a party man by history and character with the party giving me everything I am in life.

“The party discovered me from my obscure village in Jigawa, made me its state chairman and after I lost initial bids to become the state governor, made me Nigeria’s foreign affairs minister during a period of its pariah status.

“The party further made me the state governor and I want to presently pay it and the country back with selfless service that would unite, reconcile and prosper the citizens.”

He urged the governor to give all aspirants that would be visiting the state equal attention, noting that all of them including himself, belong to one large family.

“We are around nine aspirants jostling for the position presently but the emphasis should be on the nomination of the best man that would be seen as the country’s torch bearer,” he said.

“The party is looking upon its governors for direction and as the convention to pick its candidate approaches, it should concentrate on reclaiming the confidence reposed in it by Nigerians.”

The former governor thanked the party faithful for standing by it through its trying times, noting that those who decamped were ungrateful and lost touch with its ideals.

Lamido said: “The decampees who include former governors, ministers, legislators among others, are those who were hitherto unknown until the party gave them the platform to be known in the country.

“The loss of the 2015 elections was bitter because members from the northern part of country were seen as infidels with some flogged, their houses burnt including my office.”

He noted that as president, he would permanently check the farmers and herdsmen clashes among other crisis points in the country and ensure that every part of the country gets a fair share in the polity.