Former Governor of Jigawa State, Alhaji Sule Lamido, on Monday, said that he was not desperate for the position of Nigeria’s president in the 2019 general elections.
Lamido said this in Abakaliki when he led his campaign team on a courtesy visit to Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi State.
The former governor said he would accept the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) decision on its torchbearer for the election.
Lamido urged the party 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.
“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 said.
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.
“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,” he said.
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.
“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.
Umahi, who is the chairman of the South East Governors Forum, commended Lamido for his doggedness and noted that the PDP was in the right direction with the way aspirants pursued their ambitions.
“Aspirants into various offices in the last national convention toured the country to show they were serious over their ambitions and it is pleasing that presidential aspirants are towing the same line.
“This will ensure that those who would eventually occupy the offices would realise that they actually competed for it and wound not take the losers and party’s generality for granted,” he said.
