John Alechenu

In his assessment of the 2015 presidential election, the ex-Governor of Jigawa State, Alhaji Sule Lamido, said neither President Goodluck Jonathan nor his main challenger, Maj. General Muhammadu Buhari (Retd.) had Nigeria’s best interest at heart.

He noted that whoever among the two contestants won the election, Nigeria was the ultimate loser.

Lamido said this in Chapter 16, pages 416–417, of his autobiography, “Being True To Myself,” launched in Abuja on May 13th.

The former Foreign Affairs Minister told Ex-President Goodluck Jonathan this much after the campaigns in some northern states, where there were palpable signs that all was not well.

He noted that apart from the propaganda machine of the then-opposition All Progressives Congress (APC), which was in overdrive, key members of the PDP were alienated for unjustifiable reasons.

Lamido said, “I moved to draw the attention of our PDP candidate, President Jonathan, to the realities on the ground: ‘Mr. President, sir, the election of 2015 is not about Nigeria or political parties but between two contending people — Buhari and Jonathan.

Neither of you has the overall interest of the country as his ultimate objective, but your aspirations. Thus, whoever wins between you and the country will lose. Yes, Nigeria will lose.’”

He explained that “Buhari was not there for Nigeria; the amalgamation of political interests promoted him.

“Jonathan had also reneged on the agreement he had undertaken after President Yar’Adua’s death in 2010 to complete that tenure only and was now seeking to contest again in 2015.

“It was a breach of the agreement that was mutually reached.

“In 2015, people within the PDP had been alienated and unduly accused of being against Jonathan, even if they were not.

“The party simply pushed them away and never trusted them or got them involved in its affairs.

“Secondly, the propaganda of the APC was so intense that it became very difficult for us to promote him successfully in the state.

“It was so choking and suffocating that even a Muslim member of PDP felt ashamed to identify with the party because of the emotional blackmail.

“When they deployed religion to confuse the mind, individuals had to be careful not to act in a manner that was anti-Islam or anti-North.

“There was a solid conspiracy to decampaign the PDP and destroy its legacies, with the issue of the Boko Haram insurgency being unduly amplified.

“Pictures of people and places bombed by the insurgents were widely posted on social media, with pictures of buses, marketplaces, motor stations, mosques, and churches burning in blazing fires.

“The crisis was so manipulated that it touched the minds of the Muslim clerics, who took to the pulpits to preach sermons that strongly condemned the federal government for its indifference to the plight of its citizens.

“The net consequence was to make it difficult even for PDP supporters with very strong conviction to sell President Jonathan to voters.”

Vanguard News