Governors' Forum scored a big political point on Thursday by
convincing the Jigawa State Governor, Alhaji Sule Lamido to endorse
the presidential ambition of President Goodluck Jonathan in 2015.
Competent party sources told Vanguard that the chairman of the
Northern Governors' Forum and Niger State Governor, Dr. Babangida
Aliyu, who is said to have the ears of the Jigawa governor, was given
the task to work on Lamido to join the train in endorsing Jonathan.
To get the governor to join his colleagues in giving his assent to
Jonathan to fly the PDP flag, Aliyu reportedly told Lamido that
Jonathan had accepted to abide by all the commitments that he made to
Jigawa people during his electioneering campaign in the state in 2011.
Top on the list of the commitment extracted from Jonathan for Lamido
is that the Presidency will refund the sum of over N15 billion
expended by Lamido to build the Dutse International Airport, a project
which the Federal Government promised to undertake but failed.
Similarly, the Presidency also agreed to undertake the immediate
construction of the Auyo Irrigation Project, which was started by the
Shagari Administration but abandoned and has remained an
electioneering topic by successive presidential candidates and
parties.
Besides, the Federal Government, it was learnt, also agreed to
construct a major road in the state to connect the state-owned
university at Kafin Hausa, as a means of appeasing the governor and
his people.
A top source in Jigawa said that Lamido accepted to support Jonathan's
candidature at the PDP NEC meeting in Abuja on Thursday because
according to him "there has been a commitment" by President Jonathan
to fulfill his campaign promises to the people of the state.
"All along, Governor Lamido had insisted that he would only support
the president if he fulfilled his campaign promises to the state and
not that he wanted to replace him as some persons were insinuating, a
top official said.
But the Director of Press to Governor Lamido, Mr. Umar Kyari, who
spoke on the phone from Saudi Arabia, pointed out that the governor
had never had any disagreement with Jonathan on the issue of running
for the same office.
"As a matter of fact, the governor has never declared his intention to
challenge Jonathan in the Presidential race but it was only his
admirers, who suggested that based on the brilliant performance he has
put up in the state, he could replicate same if he becomes the
president of Nigeria," Umar explained.
"It must be made abundantly clear that governor Lamido has never told
anyone that he was going to challenge Jonathan in the presidential
election in 2015," the spokesman stressed.
It would be recalled that Lamido had distanced himself from the
initial endorsement of President Jonathan by the North-West Zone of
the PDP two weeks ago but did not give any reasons.
The development was then taken to mean that he was ready to slug it
out with Jonathan at the polls come 2015. But the position changed
dramatically when Lamido turned up at the NEC meeting of PDP and
endorsed Jonathan as the sole candidate for the presidential race next
year.
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