Former governor of Jigawa State, Sule Lamido, said it is a common
thing for politicians made by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to
betray the party.
Lamido said this in an interview with The Sun while commenting on the
outcome of the November 16 governorship election in Bayelsa State.
Reacting to calls for the suspension of ex-president Goodluck Jonathan
over his perceived support for David Lyon, candidate of the All
Progressives Congress (APC) in the election, Lamido said he is not in
support of the move.
โPeople have done worse than Jonathanโฆ betrayal is the hallmark of the
PDP,โ he said.
โTo me Jonathan is a creation of an accident hoisted by Obasanjo on
Nigeria. I really donโt talk about him as somebody who should be
punished for what he did. It doesnโt make sense.
โWhat I am saying is that people have done worse than Jonathan. People
who are senior to him, people who are more elderly than Jonathan and
who offer bigger option than Jonathan. Naturally, it is his home
state, otherwise he is simply copying from his political elders and
leaders.
โTo me, when you say PDP, 80 per cent of the stronghold of APC is PDP;
you know it. Anybody who was anything in the National Assembly between
1999 to 2015 was PDP. Anybody who was anything today in Government
House was PDP.
โSo, to me, betrayal is part of the hallmark of the party. Tell me
anybody who has not betrayed PDP? Anybody you can think who PDP had
honoured and dignified and made, who PDP invented that has not come to
hurt PDP.โ
Lamido alleged that Jonathan betrayed the PDP in Bayelsa because the
federal government is โblackmailing himโ.
โBecause I canโt imagine a former president selling his own state to
the opposition โ to the very party which called him names, which
demonized himโฆโ he said.
โThey are holding him by the balls. Because he (Jonathan) sure knows
his problem with Buhari and with this government. And the issue of
Malabo, I think,ย played a key role, I said so. So, the election were
won and lost by PDP. PDP history, PDP tradition and Jonathan were
behind him. That I can say anywhere because the issue of Malabo is an
issue I know very well. I had cause to discuss it with him.
โWhile he was the president and I was in office, I went and told him
about it. I told him and I also gave a radio interview to an FM in
Abuja, which Daily Triumph picked, where they said a minister under
Jonathan got almost 150 million dollars Malabo scan โ Governor Lamido.
And when Reuben Abati came to debunk it or to abuse me, I went to
Reuben Abati, I know what I am saying, can we go to the Villa, I
discussed this with Jonathan. I told him about it. Let us go.โ
