Former Jigawa State governor, Sule Lamido, has accusedgovernors elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ofblocking his attempt to contest for the party’s national chairmanship. Lamido made the allegation in an interview with the BBCHausa Service, saying the governors refused to give him a nomination form andalso ignored a court order that directed the party to allow him to contest. He said the chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum and BauchiState governor, Bala Mohammed, personally called him and asked him to step downbecause the governors believed he would be too independent if elected chairman. According to Lamido, “Bala, the governor of Bauchi, calledand said, ‘My elder brother, you are stronger than us. If we make you chairman,we can’t influence you.’ He said he responded by reminding the governor of theparty’s long history. “I told him, ‘When PDP was formed, you were not there. Theparty with history should not be controlled by one person,’” he added. Lamido explained that despite securing a court ordercompelling the PDP to allow him into the race, the governors still refused toobey it and instead filed an appeal. He also rejected the leadership that emerged from the recentconvention, where Tanimu Turaki was named national chairman. He described the entire process as unacceptable. “That convention is null and void,” he said. The former governor urged senior stakeholders, includingformer President Olusegun Obasanjo, to intervene and help reorganise the PDP. He said the party needed to return to its founding values tostrengthen Nigeria’s democracy and development.
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