Can Governor Sule Lamido be trusted?
If anyone ever trusted his credibility on the issue, his recent comments while receiving members of the Jonathan Campaign Organization in Dutse had removed their doubts. He told members of the team, led by Dr. Sarki Tafida, that advocates of political power to the north in 2011 are “hypocrites”. According to him, if northerners were […]
If anyone ever trusted his credibility on the issue, his recent comments while receiving members of the Jonathan Campaign Organization in Dutse had removed their doubts. He told members of the team, led by Dr. Sarki Tafida, that advocates of political power to the north in 2011 are “hypocrites”. According to him, if northerners were sincere about presidential power, they wouldn’t have challenged the late Yar’adua up to the Supreme Court. His logic in this respect is not only flawed but also preposterous. Is General Muhammadu Buhari of ANPP, who challenged the late Yar’adua’s election at the Supreme Court, a PDP member? Besides, didn’t both General Buhari and Atiku Abubakar have the constitutional right to challenge the results of the election in court where they had valid reason they were treated unfairly? Didn’t the late Yar’adua himself acknowledge that the 2007 election that put him in office was flawed? Therefore, what is the fuss about questioning the commitment of northerners to have the presidency in the zone just because aggrieved contestants went to court to defend their rights in 2007?
In the words of the American entertainment guru, Bill Cosby, “The key to failure is to try to please everybody.” And that exactly is what Governor Sule Lamido has been doing in his dealing with the presidential aspirants. When he received two PDP presidential aspirants from the north, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and General Aliyu Mohammed Gusau, he praised them for their political struggle to capture power. He never once hinted that the north’s insistence to complete its two terms of eight years in 2011 was wrong. Indeed, he openly expressed his goodwill towards them. Lamido was so excited by the spirit of his fraternity with these northern aspirants that he arranged a guided tour for General Gusau to see his achievements on the ground. In fact, Lamido’s Media Adviser, Mr. Adagbo Onoja, wrote lengthy newspaper articles to celebrate this demonstration of brotherhood.
Who then is the hypocrite between Governor Lamido and northern advocates of zoning? The real hypocrite is the leader that professes love and goodwill for his brother but is silently against him. Indeed, the worst hypocrisy is to profess commitment to the political interest of your people while working against their larger interest for personal gain. Is it possible to be for President Goodluck Jonathan’s ambition and at the same time support the right of the north to complete Yar’adua’s remaining tenure of four years?
Since the EFCC operatives invaded Jigawa State to arrest some commissioners, permanent secretaries and his son over allegation of corruption, Governor Lamido’s reputed courage to speak up for the truth has crumbled. He is now presenting two faces intended to please northerners and President Goodluck Jonathan. His courage has deserted him because he knows that the EFCC can be used against him to scuttle his ambition for second term. Since the EFCC is a federal government agency, which the Presidency can use against its opponents, Lamido has now turned an enemy of zoning for personal survival.
Lamido is a disappointment. If he knows he has nothing to fear from EFCC, he should take the bull by the horns and stand by his conviction over zoning. It is sad that leaders can display this level of shameless volt-face and hypocrisy against the interest of their own people. The political realities in Nigerian are now opening the eyes of northerners to the treacherous nature of their opportunistic leaders.
As the English saying goes, if a child can hate his mother, he can hate you too! Therefore, President Goodluck Jonathan should be wary of characters like Lamido; they are friends of convenience who can sacrifice the larger interest of their people for personal gain. If they can betray their own people, what guarantee does President Jonathan have that hypocrites like Lamido cannot sell him down the river as well?
It is obvious that the EFCC’s big stick being wielded by President Jonathan, just as former President Obasanjo did, is producing the intended effect. Paralyzed by the fear of surviving a full-scale EFCC investigation, Governor Lamido has abandoned his reputation for speaking the truth and retreated to the hole of political safety like a timid rat!
President Goodluck Jonathan should prepare a long spoon if he sits across the table to dine with hypocrites who are posing to be working for his 2011 ambition. Most of these so-called supporters of Goodluck Jonathan are like a serpent under the bed. Governor Lamido is a known supporter of former President Obasanjo’s third term agenda, which predictably collapsed on the rocks of extraordinary popular hostility. Strangely, however, a few months after the late Yar’adua was sworn into office and Obasanjo was out of power, Lamido’s political language started changing. He was once quoted as saying that former President Obasanjo destroyed democracy in the country and the PDP through the culture of imposition rather than transparent process. Lamido can now call fellow northerners hypocrites because he wants the President to call off the EFCC Rottweilers breathing down his neck to assure his second term ambition. What a shame!
Dutse wrote from 28, Ahmadou Ahidjo Street, Asokoro Abuja. [email protected]