Tale of the NEPU cockroach and PDP hen

Shortly before he embarked on his pilgrimage to Mecca, however, Sule Lamido had come under blistering attack from Chief Edwin Clark, the grand old man and self-styled leader of the Ijaws, who said Lamido was unfit to succeed Jonathan as President. “Lamido is not qualified to be president of Nigeria. One, educationally, he is not […]

Shortly before he embarked on his pilgrimage to Mecca, however, Sule Lamido had come under blistering attack from Chief Edwin Clark, the grand old man and self-styled leader of the Ijaws, who said Lamido was unfit to succeed Jonathan as President. “Lamido is not qualified to be president of Nigeria. One, educationally, he is not qualified. …..let him tell me what his qualifications are. Aminu Kano was the one who brought him up; tell me what his qualifications are to take over from someone who has a PhD…”
According to Clark, Sule Lamido does not possess even a school certificate. “He did not finish secondary school and he wants to become president. Let him come and deny that he did not finish secondary school”, Edwin Clark challenged the Jigawa governor.
Clark has apparently become the custodian of many hot and sticky state secrets. In the aftermath of Clark’s barrage of condemnations of the Governor, to the effect that he wasn’t qualified to contest for the presidency, I had imagined Lamido’s options. By repeating that Sule Lamido has no school certificate, the old man has succeeded in opening an old gash.   Good Lord! I thought a court of competent jurisdiction had ruled that Sule Lamido had finished secondary school and possesses a certificate to that effect! Which judge is this and why is his judgement being disregarded by Clark? Well, I waited to no avail and Sule Lamido didn’t reply Chief Clark!
Haka ne? Chief Clark ya san abin da ba mu sani ba ne a tarihin makarantar Sule Lamido?
In September this year, Edwin Clark had also called Lamido “a corrupt public officer” whose “children stole Jigawa’s money, billions of naira, he is a signatory to some of the accounts, but because he is enjoying immunity, nobody has spoken.” Ah aha, haka ne?
In the run up to the court judgement affirming that he has a school certificate, Sule Lamido had engaged in a lot of bluster, the same type he did before he chickened out of a presidential challenge. Sule Lamido repeatedly said he was ready to go to jail and I had consistently asked myself who would jail him and for what reason? Unknown to many people, Sule Lamido was being threatened and intimidated by PDP for nursing presidential ambition. As it is, Lamido may no longer be jailed by this administration because – simply because – he has abandoned his presidential challenge. It is a great shame that after Governor Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu of Niger State called out on him at a meeting of PDP Governors and other leaders in the Aso Rock Villa; Sule Lamido stood up and without any objection, bowed, and then nodded himself out of a presidential contest against Jonathan. As a proof that this Dan Nehu has really dumped his presidential bid, he donated Ambassador Kazaure to Jonathan to serve as a campaign foot soldier.
Instead of defending his right to contest for the presidential primaries on the platform of the party he helped found, Sule Lamido was busy blaming and castigating others who thought him fit for the office. Who told you I have presidential ambition? Sule Lamido challenged his admirers, desperately trying to extricate himself from the most dreadful scramble for Nigeria’s number one job.  How comes that these Northern Elements withstood Ahmadu Bello’s NPC and its intimidation but not PDP’s terrorization? How is it possible that you are bullied by people who were nowhere near the meetings you attended to negotiate a party which they have now taken over and even forbidden your own ambition? How can Sule Lamido cave in to Jonathan’s own self-serving presidential aspiration? Is it too much for Sule Lamido to contest for presidency on the platform of the PDP, a party he and others founded? The governor has repeatedly said President Jonathan hasn’t fulfilled the promises he made to the people of Jigawa in 2011. Which promises has Jonathan fulfilled, if one may ask?
In 2011, President Jonathan had promised to complete the Auyo irrigation scheme in Jigawa State to boost agriculture, build an airport in Dutse and complete the Kano-Maiduguri dual carriageway, among other things. Here we are, five years and he hasn’t redeemed any of those pledges. Why should Sule Lamido discard his presidential ambition when “the masses are today living in agony due to high level of injustice, denial, imposition, abuse of office ensured by the tyranny of bad leadership?” Is Sule Lamido going to quit the quest for the presidency when the “leadership in this country is totally disconnected from the people” and “all  its policies are formulated in parallel with the needs, plight and interest of the common man and the country?” Is Sule Lamido going to stick with a government under whose watch “hundreds of innocent people are killed, like chicken on a daily basis for no just reason and nobody cared to talk?”