Sule Lamido, former Governor of Jigawa State, has rejected the legitimacy of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) convention held in Ibadan.
Gatekeepers News reports that Lamido alleged that the event amounted to nothing more than a social meet-up rather than an authorised party exercise.
Speaking on ARISE News, Lamido insisted that the gathering could not be regarded as a convention because a court injunction obtained by him on Friday afternoon had already barred the party from proceeding.
The politician explained that both Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and PDP were formally served before the meeting took place.
He said, “I gather that the convention is something defined under law our law, our regulations and our general constitution. And since there has been a court order restricting the convention from holding, there cannot be a convention. So if you say it is a convention, you can be sued for contempt of court.”
The former Governor stressed that no other interpretation or earlier ruling could override the most recent injunction.
He said, “Interests are very free to interpret the law based on their own interest. But the injunction from Ibadan is not the one in question. Mine was given on Friday at three o’clock, which is the latest.”
“The order has been served on INEC; it has also been served on the PDP. They are aware of this. Therefore, if you say they are holding a convention, you can be held for contempt of the general purpose.”
Reacting to comments by Chief Bode George, who accused him of misconstruing the party’s internal processes, Lamido dismissed George’s remarks with open derision.
He said, “I watched him. I felt highly entertained by his presentation. He’s a military man. He has no idea how the PDP was formed in 1998, the philosophy behind the PDP, the thinking of the PDP and the dream of the PDP. He has no idea how we formed the party; he was only brought on board by Obasanjo.”
Lamido added that George had not fully adjusted to civilian political culture.
He said, “He has not gone through the full metamorphosis of moving from a military man to a civilian. Therefore, he is still a ‘paracivilian’. You can understand his mentality.”
The former Governor also linked George to the faction currently suspended from the party. He said, “That group which has been suspended was led by Bode George. He was their political leader. He was the elder who got them into rebellion against the party.”
Reiterating his stance, Lamido said the Ibadan exercise lacked any lawful basis and could not be acknowledged as a party convention.
He said, “PDP is a party of law and order. The gathering in Ibadan is not a convention which is legal. Therefore, anything done there is just unavoidable, whatever they may be called.”
“They are only there to entertain themselves. The meeting in Ibadan is simply a gathering of friends for entertainment. It has no legal standing.”
Addressing why he sought the court’s intervention, Lamido explained that he had spent years working behind the scenes to avert the party’s decline.
He said, “In the last two years, I have held so many meetings in people’s houses, in offices pleading that the party was going down.”
“Today, we have so many governors, parliamentarians and leaders who don’t even care. What is the purpose of having a party if not to win elections?”
Lamido warned that the PDP’s inability to resolve internal disputes had eroded public trust.
He said, “People are not confident about Nigeria because they don’t believe the PDP is even capable of resolving its own problems. If you cannot organise yourselves, how do you go out and fight the APC?”
