Lamido Set To Shun PDP Convention After Court Order

Sule Lamido, former governor of Jigawa, says he went to court to “reclaim his right” to contest the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and will not attend the party’s national convention scheduled for November 15.

Lamido spoke on Friday during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today, describing the case as a “personal fight for dignity,” not a move against the party.

“I went to court not because I have anybody in mind, but I went to get my rights back taken by my party.

“The issue is just about my own personality, dignity and honour being restored more than anything else or being in the court,” the ex-governor said.

The former governor expressed disappointment at the state of the PDP, lamenting that love and unity within the party “have been eroded”.

“I won the case, fair enough, but then again, it is also equally tormenting that the case I won is about my party, about our unity, family.

“A family that was so united and cohesive, with so much love and trust, is all eroded, and we are now simply fighting. And I feel very sad; let the problem be solved,” he said.

Lamido said he would “stand by the court” and cannot attend the convention because a judgement has been delivered.

“This is very clear. For someone saved by the court, I can’t go where there is an injunction on the convention. How do I go there again? Am I now renouncing something I gained in the court?” he asked.

“If I go to the convention, then it means whatever I have gotten has been washed away… The court gave a very clear injunction that the convention must not hold, so how do I go there? I can’t go there.”

Lamido also dismissed rumours that he met with PDP governors over the crisis and “blamed them for weakening the party.”

“PDP had 14 governors; today, there are only three left… Even the three, two of them are going.

“I mean, the problem came from the governors, because they are so eroded, because they have a wrong notion of themselves. That they are now in charge,” he said.

While stressing that he is “not desperate” to become national chairman, Lamido said he could help restore the PDP’s lost structure.

Lamido had sued the party for “allegedly denying him the opportunity to purchase the chairmanship nomination form.”

Earlier on Friday, a federal high court in Abuja “made a final order restraining the PDP from conducting its national convention.”

The presiding judge, Peter Lifu, held that “the evidence before the court established that Lamido was unjustly denied the opportunity to obtain a nomination form,” in “violation of the PDP constitution.”

The judge held that the PDP is under a “strict” obligation to adhere to its own rules and “directed that the planned convention be put on hold to allow Lamido to obtain the nomination form, mobilise supporters, and conduct his campaign.”