Lamido: We never endorsed Jonathan

Jigawa State Governor Sule Lamido yesterday disowned the endorsement of President Goodluck Jonathan for the 2015 election by the North West zonal stakeholders of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) on Sunday.Lamido did not personally attend the zonal meeting in Kaduna, but he was represented by his deputy, Alhaji Ahmed Muhammed Gumel, who led the state’s […]

Jigawa State Governor Sule Lamido yesterday disowned the endorsement of President Goodluck Jonathan for the 2015 election by the North West zonal stakeholders of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) on Sunday.
Lamido did not personally attend the zonal meeting in Kaduna, but he was represented by his deputy, Alhaji Ahmed Muhammed Gumel, who led the state’s delegation that comprised party officials and others.
A communiqué issued at the end of the meeting, which was attended by Vice President Namadi Sambo, said the zone decided to call on Jonathan to declare his re-election bid as he had achieved a lot for the North West and the country.
But Lamido yesterday said Jigawa State was not part of the endorsement as the communiqué was prepared even before the meeting was held.
The governor, who spoke in Dutse through the deputy governor, added that the president had also not fulfilled his campaign promises to Jigawa and therefore the state had no basis to support his re-election bid.
“I am here to inform you categorically that the government and people of Jigawa state completely dissociate itself from the purported endorsement of President Goodluck Jonathan for the 2015 presidential election. We are not part of it and we don’t support (it) because the communiqué was prepared even before the meeting started,” Deputy Governor Gumel told journalists.
He added that Lamido and Jigawa people remained 100 percent loyal to the PDP, even though they were not party to the call on Jonathan to stand in the 2015 election.
Gumel said in 2011 Jigawa people and government, especially Governor Lamido, supported President Jonathan’s election bid wholeheartedly. Because of this, Lamido was called all sorts of names, he added.
The deputy governor said in spite of that the President never fulfilled all the electoral promises he made to Jigawa.
Gumel said there was therefore no basis for supporting Jonathan in 2015.
Lamido is believed to be preparing to challenge the president in next year’s election, though both of them have yet to publicly declare an aspiration.
Other key zonal stakeholders absent at the Kaduna meeting on Sunday include Katsina State Governor Ibrahim Shema, House of Representatives speaker Aminu Tambuwal and Education Minister Ibrahim Shekarau.
The Katsina State Government was not forth-coming when contacted yesterday on why Shema did not attend the meeting. The governor media aides Sani Malumfashi, Lawal Matazu and Abdulhamid Danjuma did not reply to text messages sent to them on the matter.
Though Shema was absent in Kaduna, his deputy Garba Faskari and Katsina House of Assembly Speaker Ya’u Umar Gwajo-Gwajo attended the stakeholders’ meeting.
Others who attended include Kaduna State Governor Mukhtar Yero, Kebbi State Governor Saidu Dakingari, Sokoto Deputy Governor Mukhtari Shagari, Foreign Affairs Minister Aminu Wali, Environment Minister Laurentia Malam, Minister of State for Finance Bashir Yuguda and PDP National Chairman Ahmadu Adamu Mu’azu.