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SULE LAMIDO: A beneficiary of ‘Obasanjo’s evils’?

By

Dr. Muhammad Ado Kazaure

(bizcentreasokoro@yahoo.com)

Department of Theatre Arts,

University of Abuja

The popular Nigerian saying ‘there is no smoke without fire’ explains why Sule Lamido, governor of Jigawa state courtesy of former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s “evils” has been at former Vice President Atiku’s throat calling him names and showing great disrespect for him. As an indigene of Jigawa state, I feel sad that instead of the Governor devoting his energy to move the state forward, he is busy chasing shadows that have nothing to do with the state. I have personally noticed that in his sojourn in Nigeria ’s political terrain since the second republic, Lamido has never been as consistent and articulate on any issue as in his unfair, unwarranted and malicious venomous attack on Atiku.

From the beginning of political activities during the tenure of military President Ibrahim Babangida in 1990, Sule Lamido has openly and secretly shown and expressed his disdain for Atiku for the prominence trust he had gotten from the late General Shehu Musa Yar’adua as the founder and leader of the Peoples Democratic Movement, PDM.

One can see that Lamido’s hatred for Atiku did not start with his ‘evil’ master’s tenure at Aso Presidential Villa.

Newspapers recently came to town with the recent attack on Atiku by Lamido shortly after ‘dropping’ Jigawa funds at his ‘evil’ master’s farm in Otta where he spoke with Journalists and came to the conclusion that Atiku “what Atiku represents is the aberration of Obasanjo. So, if there is anybody who benefited from the evils of Obasanjo, he is Atiku”. This is therefore a summary of the degree of grudge Lamido has been holding against Atiku Abubakar all these years. According to Lamido, Atiku should not have been picked as Obasanjo’s running at the Jos PDP Convention. To Lamido it was either himself or Rimi, his godfather or nobody.

It is really unfortunate that Lamido, though a muslim by birth and I suppose by practice, is still nursing grudges against Atiku’s Vice Presidential position. Islam has taught its adherents that nothing comes into being unless it has been ordained or predestined by Allah. Atiku was voted as Governor of Adamawa state in 1999, but because Allah has decried that he will be sworn-in as VP for a period of 8 years whether or not Lamido and his likes want it. I have the feeling that Lamido has not been acting like a true muslim because he has been querying and fighting Allah and not Atiku for making him VP. It is therefore not unexpected when Lamido said that Atiku was a ‘nobody’ when Obasanjo made him the country’s Vice President.

The Atiku Media Consultant quickly reacted this way: “It is God that makes, not individuals and the former VP remains grateful to God for what He had made of him by 1999”. Going down the memory lane, Atiku’s media anchorman also explained that Atiku contested the presidential primaries of the then Social Democratic Party, SDP, coming third in a race of 30 candidates in 1993.

Going by Lamido’s antecedents as an ingrate, betrayer and rebel, one is not at all surprised by his persistence in attacking the person of Atiku. He had done the same when his interests were on the line. His first victims were his political godfathers, late Aminu Kano and Mohammed Abubakar Rimi among others. It is equally on record that his predecessor, Saminu Turaki who used state resources to fund his campaign is now his number one enemy. He is presently waging a war in uprooting Turaki’s men wanting to contest the council elections in the state soon.

All of Turaki’s men in Lamido’s government now like the Deputy Governor, the Chief of Staff, Commissioners and heads of parastatals among others been included in his government under a power sharing arrangement have now being silenced as they are not involved in decision making and day to day governance of the state. One can recall that during Turaki’s incarceration at the Kuje Prison when he was arraigned before an Abuja High Court by the EFCC last year, Lamido neither visited him nor sent an emissary to him to sympathise with his fate. He even went to the extent of directing all of his officials including traditional rulers not to visit Turaki or even facilitate meeting his bail conditions.

Well, it is heart warming to hear Sule Lamido who would not have gone near the Jigawa government house today but for the magnanimity of the ‘evils’ of his master, OBJ. He has certainly by his statement on Atiku admitted that OBJ is a devil. This says it all. Well like father like son, Lamidoa is truely acting like a good son of his political father, Obasanjo. A Lagos based Public commentator, Ishiaku Ibrahim had written in Daily Independent of February 12, 2007 about Obasanjo: "Anybody with some idea of our recent political history, would agree that Obasanjo is an ingrate of the highest order, who has either forgotten his own political history and where he came from or he deliberately decided to rubbsihthose who provided him with the fisrt step on which he climbed to political prominence". This in all respects is one of the several lessons Lamido has learnt from Obasanjo.

One can recall here the swiftness with Atiku’s chief media consultant, Garba Shehu fiercely reacts to the cheap blackmail and smear campaign embarked upon by Lamido against Atiku simply because ‘he (Atiku) refused to honour a request by Lamido to have his Gubernatorial campaign in 2007 funded by N100 million.’ To Lamido, that is an unforgivable offence that will continue to earn Atiku bashing, blackmail, smear and name calling. As a man who ‘talks before he thinks’, Lamido’s recent utterance on Atiku has further exposed his ignorance, marginal literacy level in religious and western education and ingratitude to Nigerian democrats ably led by democrat Atiku Abubakar.

It is my candid view that Lamido should talk less and concentrate his energies and our funds to move the state forward. Jigawa is the least developed state, educationally, socially, economically and otherwise in the federation. He needs to spend time and effort to make his mark before he exits. He should stop wasting his time and do all he can to provide basic primary and secondary education for all indigenes. Social services, utilities, water supply, basic health care delivery and security are among the issues needing the prompt attention of the governor. He should not allow our sons and daughters to suffer the same fate of being secondary school drop-outs like him. The consequences are too numerous to mention.

It has been established beyond reasonable doubt that Lamido is the number one beneficiary of Obasanjo’s ‘evils’, despite his being a secondary school drop-out, Lamido was appointed a minister of the prestigious Foreign Affairs ministry and in April last year crowned governor of Jigawa state. I am in total agreement with the assertion that Lamido is not a credible teacher on the values of loyalty and betrayal. Those with good upbringings will not betray their benefactors. Unfortunately, Lamido has an antecedent of being a betrayer all his life. It is high time he changes his tactic of speaking badly about elders. It is not the shortest way to getting national fame and recognition