New PDP Will Fight to the End, Says Lamido
Governor Sule Lamido of Jigawa State has said the breakaway faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) led by Alhaji Kawu Baraje, would fight the injustice in the party to the very end of the struggle.
He made the declaration Thursday, while swearing-in the newly-elected Chairman of Ringin Local Government Area of the state, Alhaji Yusha'u Abubakar, who replaced the former chairman, Hon. Muhammed Abubakar, who was elected into the state House of Assembly.
According to Lamido, “Indeed the next three months would be a tough one for the members of the new PDP, but we would fight no matter what and we would see to the end of it all”.
The governor affirmed: 'We are loyal to PDP under Kawu Baraje', adding that the tussle in the party was aimed at rescuing it from those, he said, had hijacked it. In his word: “PDP is not owned by anyone, regardless of whether they are the president of this country or anything, and there are no qualms that we belong to the Baraje faction of the PDP.
“There is no way we would allow the president of the country to use our own weapon which is the political platform to fight us”.
He attributed the success recorded by the party in the state to the current leadership of the new PDP, which he said, was gearing towards entrenching democracy in the whole country, 'no matter the oppression by President Goodluck Jonathan and the National Chairman of the party, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur.
'The PDP is far above Jonathan or Bamanga Tukur. It is a party for all Nigerians and it must be rescued from the hands of dictators or brigands that have dominated the party today,' Lamido said.
While berating the All Progressives Congress (APC) for trying to square up with the PDP in the state, Lamido noted that the margin of victory at the by-election was a proof that the party was in charge of the state.
'APC was most unfortunate for testing their strength now and they now understand that it is a no-go area for them as they are dead on arrival, having crash landed, the governor said.'
Abubakar before his appointment yesterday was the Vice-Chairman of Ringim Local Government Area and was elevated to the office of the chairman to replace Alhaji Murtala Abubakar, the former chairman, who emerged victorious at the just concluded by-election into the assembly as a result of the death of Alhaji Sule Udi, the Deputy Speaker, who lost his life in a ghastly motor accident months ago.
The governor said despite all the political hoopla, the new PDP under Baraje was solid and very vibrant at the grass roots and would not leave any stone unturned in proving her supremacy over and above any party in Nigeria.
He said the PDP was a party that always opened its doors to all manner of people and had accommodated every Nigerian and given them the opportunity to partake in the political activities of the country without any prejudice or segregation based on tribal, religious or ethnic consideration.
Lamido enjoined the new chairman and state legislators to value the confidence reposed in them by the people of Ringim and work according to the constitutional provisions of the PDP and the law.