Lamido’s boycott of Jonathan’s campaign worries Presidency

The Presidency is worried over the attitude of Jigawa State Governor Sule Lamido to the campaign of President Goodluck Jonathan, The PUNCH has learnt.

Lamido, who was said to have been interested in contesting the party’s presidential primary, was among those allegedly forced to forgo their ambition because of the adoption of President Jonathan as the party’s sole candidate.

A lady, Prof. Akasoba Duke-Abiola, who defied the party’s endorsement of Jonathan and paid for its expression of interest form, was denied the form and could not participate in the party’s presidential primary.

Since then, Lamido is being seen as not committed to the Jonathan’s 2015 project.

The governor had at the different occasions complained about the refusal of the President to keep to the promises he made to the people of his state in 2011.

He had also vowed that keeping to such promises would determine if he and the people of the state would vote for Jonathan during the February 14 presidential election.

Though the President and the PDP had named him as the North-West presidential campaign co-ordinator, Lamido was absent when the President inaugurated the campaign committee in Abuja on Tuesday.

Lamido also refused to attend the flag-off of his party’s presidential campaign in Lagos on Thursday.

Apart from that, the PDP governorship candidate in Jigawa, Alhaji Ibrahim Ringim, was also not at the event to collect the party’s flag from the PDP National Chairman, Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu.

Ringim was the chief of staff to Lamido. He resigned from the position to contest the party’s governorship primary.

A Presidency official said that Lamido only busy campaigning for Ringim as his successor.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said, “He (Lamido) has not told us why he refused to be at the rallies. Rather, he’s busy campaigning for his candidate.

“Though that is also alright, but we expected him to also identify with the President in the state and the zone, where he is the coordinator.”

A member of the National Working Committee of the PDP, who also spoke on the issue, said that the governor was under watch.

But the National Secretary of the party, Prof. Wale Oladipo, defended the governor’s refusal to attend the rallies.

He said the governor had been busy campaigning for the President in his zone, adding that the party had no doubt that the governor would deliver the state and the zone to the PDP.

“We are happy with the governor. We also knew why he and our party’s candidate could not make it to Lagos for the rally. It was because the programme was an impromptu one. It was due to communication gap. But we are saying that he is working for us in the state,” Oladipo said.

Culled from punch in NTA News blog