Presidency jittery after Jigawa governor Lamido challenges Goodluck for PDP ticket Saturday, 30 August 2014 10:40 PRESIDENCY officials are reportedly in a panic after the recent declaration by Jigawa State governor Sule Lamido that he will stand against President Goodluck Jonathan in a bid to secure the Peoples Democratic Partys (PDP) presidential ticket. Alhaji Lamido, a former foreign minister, has served two terms as Jigawa State governor and was once favoured by former President Olusegun Obasanjo to be the PDPs presidential flagbearer in 2015. He was one of the governors who formed the breakaway New PDP last year but most of its members have since joined the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC). Unlike his colleagues, Governor Lamido has remained within the PDP and presidency officials had thought that he had given up his ambitions. However, after it emerged that he was still interested, President Jonathan summoned the governor to the presidential. villa where he bluntly declared that he will be a candidate come the PDP primaries. Presidency officials had hoped that President Jonathan would not be challenged from within the PDP, hoping that the national convention would become a mere formality. Inside sources said that President Jonathan was shell shocked when Governor Lamido stormed the Villa recently and told him openly that he was keen on running in the polls. One presidential source said: “At that point, the president was shocked to hear from Lamido that his presidential ambition should not be seen as mere rumour, as he had made up his mind to run against him. The way Lamido spoke with the president showed that he was not ready to back down from the race and the way he spoke about the matter was a bit unsettling to Mr President, who had all along regarded him as one of the governors, who could not move against him.” Governor Lamido was said to have told the president that he had made up his mind to contest against him in the next polls despite a deliberate attempt by forces opposed to his ambition to frame him and his children. Apparently, the governor, told President Jonathan that he was upset by the frequent harassment of his children by some government agencies over allegations that one of them passed through an airport without declaring $40,000 in his possession. He is said to have also drawn the president’s attention to the fact that there was a deliberate attempt by government agencies to tarnish his family’s image all in a bid to make him drop his presidential ambition. Governor Lamidos actions are said to have angered the president, who promptly reported him to the national leadership of the PDP and asked it to call him to order.
Posted on: Sat, 30 Aug 2014 11:03:12 +0000
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