Governor Sule Lamido
Abdullahi Rabiu writes that the political equation in Jigawa State may have changed significantly as some political opponents of Governor Sule Lamido have now joined forces with him the administration
Ever since the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Jigawa State emerged victorious at the polls in 2007, the opposition parties had practically become jittery on how to handle the bashing from leaders with virulent and vituperative adjectives, which often makes the leadership unstable and sometimes, confused on the way forward. It wasn’t however so with Governor Sule Lamido who rose through the political rank and files in the Mallam Aminu Kano political College to become what he is today.
As a sophisticated politician of no mean standard, Lamido was credited as toeing the line of the antagonists of previous leaders in the old Kano and present Jigawa State. It is common knowledge that he knows his onions and specialises on how to attack and also shake-off attacks, coming from his detractors in his capacity as a general in field of politics.
Lamido had served at various positions since 1979 when he assumed legislative responsibility that would later give him the know-how in accommodating a lot of people who point the finger at him and his government. But the reality is that with the revolution taking place in the state in terms of developments, the antagonists had already recoiled into their shell as the basis for criticism may have been defeated.
Interestingly, since assuming office as governor, Lamido had introduced the idea of people accessing him through phones and the lines are always open for anybody who wanted to reach the governor via a text message on any matter at all.
Ironically, the development gave a frightening signal among the people who wanted to go the extra-mile in trampling on the rights of others. Today, in Jigawa, those at the lowest ebb of the ladder have a field day because of the confidence they have to directly access the governor, contrary to the practice before the coming of Lamido.
Although, they had never seen anything good in what the Governor is doing in the state and had maintained the fight against the policy thrust of his government, they have however continued to fail because based the people are convinced otherwise, based on what they can see on the ground. For them, it was therefore unacceptable to buy into any form of attack on Lamido, because, doing that would be unjust. That is why, today, very few people take any attack on Lamido seriously.
Typically, Lamido maintained his position on the need for continuity in government. “I believe in continuity of governance. The government I met on ground was not really making waves and it has perpetually made Jigawa to retain its backward position in the scheme of things.
“We met a much disorganised civil servants that were suffering as a result of the decentralisation policy and all the other sectors including health and education sectors were basterdised. We, then, devised a means of remodelling the state and producing a new set of human species who are only concerned with the idea of moving the state forwarded.”
As a result, the transformation of the state through pragmatic leadership had metamorphosed into luring his critics into accepting PDP as the party to take them to the promise land.
The justification of what Lamido had always told his people manifested on the recently when members of the Action Congress of Nigeria (CAN) and Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), joined the PDP from 27 local government councils across the state. They abandoned their parties for the PDP in a colourful occasion held in Hadejia town.
Most of the people who knew the sour political relationship between Karami Jahun and the Governor must have concluded that the people of Karami would never make a u-turn, but they had agreed to embrace Lamido as their governor.
Shortly after coming into the fold, Karami told the crowd that the reason for defecting to PDP was based on the fact that in all the years that they’d been attacking the governor in the media, nothing had happened to his image and that the developmental projects are too obvious to be disputed.
“We have work assiduously work for the ACN but no one seems to appreciate our contribution and today, we have resolved to be in PDP because of Governor Lamido’s achievements. We shall join hands with him to elevate the state in order to attain an enviable height.”
Another Speaker, Senator Ibrahim Kiri Kassama popularly called Dudu said he came into the PDP along with all the executives of the ACN across the seven local government areas of Hadejia Emirate.
The state PDP Chairman, Alhaji Salisu Mahmuda Kuit, welcomed the defectors into the fold and asked them to conduct themselves peacefully and work hard for the success of the party in the forthcoming election. His predecessor, Alhaji Isah Duniya Bahutu, also lauded the influence and reach of the PDP which he said had spread across the country, adding that the PDP would continue to lead Nigeria for the next five Hundred years.
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