2019: Ex-Gov Lamido joins race to battle PDP ticket with Fayose

Ahead of the 2019 general elections, former Governor Sule Lamido of Jigawa State has informed members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of his ambition to run for the office of the president.

He said this is to ensure that the All Progressives Congress (APC) is unseated and Nigeria restored from the path of failure.

He is now set to battle for his party’s ticket with the likes of Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti State, who has also made known his intention to vie for the presidential ticket of the PDP.

Lamido stated his intention in a letter he wrote to all members of the PDP, where he lamented that the nation has departed from the dreams of its founding fathers and said that what the PDP needs to do was to take over power in 2019 so that it can reposition Nigeria on the path of recovery.

Part of the letter read, “Today, 57 years after the independence of our dear country, can we in all sincerity claim to have achieved the dream of our founding fathers? Where did we fail and from where did we begin to fail? Nigeria with its natural endowment and human capacity cannot be forgiven for being otherwise.

“We cannot even demonstrate our ability and capacity to meet domestic, regional and global challenges which currently seems to overwhelm us. The PDP will and must lead the nation back into a bright, progressive, and innovative future.
“To the world, Nigeria must demonstrate our confidence, tenacity in our ability and capability to address our domestic regional and global challenges that confront us. It is against this background that I offer myself to vie for the office of the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in 2019 if my party finds me worthy to fly its flag.

“I am no means claiming to be the only capable material, any PDP member given the trust and support can fly our flag, and I expect many more aspirants will express the desire to run. My hope and prayer is that at the end of all the process which I hope will be open, fair transparent and credible is to give Nigeria in 2019 candidate who will lead the party and Nigeria. This is because there is no alternative to PDP in 2019. It will be a defining moment in the Nigerian political evolution.”

On the issue of restructuring which has continued to dominate the national discourse, Lamido said that the most important aspects of addressing the Nigerian economy by creating prosperity will make the debate less emotional and sentimental.

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He said, “Our imperfect union as a federation should not be an excuse for our legendary failure which appears to have found vent in the call for restructuring, a union of multi-ethnic multi-lingual and multi-religious can certainly task the best of human capacities, but that is precisely the challenge and how to work on it and build a nation of people of a common destiny, and this is where the PDP must raise to the challenge. The starting point is where the PDP began in 1998 and critical to it is creating an open environment in which every Nigerian must not only been seen to be, but must be an equal stakeholder and therefore restoring trust and faith in our shared union and this PDP was able to achieve in its first four years.”

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