PDP crisis: it's fight to finish, says Lamido

The Governor of Jigawa State, Alhaji Sule Lamido, one of the arrowheads of the dissenting G7 Governors in the ruling People Democratic Party (PDP),  on Saturday reiterated strong opposition to President Jonathan's candidacy in 2015.

Lamido, who spoke when his colleagues Lawmakers in the House of Representatives (1979-1983), paid him solidarity visit in Government House, Dutse, added that beyond 2015, their support for Jonathan is not guaranteed.

On the Ringim Local Government chairman, who was sworn in recently, Lamido vowed that his faction would fight Jonathan and Bamanga Tukur for manipulating the party to their advantage at the expense of the party.

'We are not stopping Jonathan from contesting; Jonathan is free to contest in 2015, but the process must be very transparent; it must be credible so that by the time we are through then it can be owned by the PDP.'

According to Lamido, there are two issues on ground; the PDP Government of Nigeria and the second is the PDP party.

'As far as the Federal Government is concerned under the Presidency of Jonathan, that Government is PDP Government and we will defend it no matter what because it is a Government we elected in 2011 to last between May 2011 and May 2015. Between that time frame, it is our Government, therefore we will stand by our President; we will defend his policies to secure him from opponents, who will like to cheapen our own Government. We will stand by the Government to remain solid till 28th May, 2015 midnight when the tenure expires.'

He continued: 'But the political Party called PDP is our main worry; its our main concern because they say 'soldier come, soldier go; president come, president go.' Obasanjo came under PDP, Yaradua came under PDP, Jonathan came under PDP and therefore, many more will come under PDP in the next 1 Million years,' he boasted.

He stated that their worries is purely a PDP affair and has nothing to do with Nigeria as a country.

'In our own party, we feel there are a number of things going wrong and because we are the major party that formed the government, we must have what is called due process, rule of Law, transparency and integrity in systems.'

To do that, he argued that, 'there must be a party that is robust and vibrant; a party which is anchored on the rule of law. What we are having today is a party that is high jacked by brigands, mercenaries, people who don't have PDP history. PDP was built on a very clear history to rescue and stabilize Nigeria to be secured, united and prosperous.

'We cannot achieve these except we work under extent rules and regulations; Nigerian constitution, the party's constitution, and its convention and traditions.'

He observed that incidents in the party at the moment are efforts by some people, who do not know how the party was formed, but have turned the party into a huge industry and are willing to continue to do that which will continue to undermine the party's integrity and credibility.

'So, the fight between me and PDP is a fight between injustice and Justice, between Rule of law and rule of holigans, who have taken the party hostage and therefore taken Nigeria hostage. We are going to fight this course until the right thing is done; the party must come back to its original role.'