Lamido’s presidential bid suffers setback — As Northern govs back out

THE rumoured presidential bid of the Jigawa State governor, Alhaji Sule Lamido, may have suffered serious setback as some Northern governors contacted on the project were said to have rejected the overtures.
Sunday Tribune was told that on three occasions, Northern governors of the Peoples Democratic Party [PDP]  rejected the alleged nomination of the Jigawa State governor, citing various reasons for their action.
Further checks also showed that attempts to recruit former president Ibrahim Babagida into the project was not yielding any success as many within his camp were said to have advised against such an option.
It was gathered that attempts to raise the issue in the sideline of a recent Northern Governors’ Forum meeting in Kaduna failed as most governors were reported to have rebuffed subtle lobby by some agents pushing for the project.
The second occasion was reported to be the recent fund-raising for a mosque at the President Olusegun Obasanjo library where the Jigawa governor was absent. Reports indicated that four Northern governors in attendance also refused to buy into the project.
The third attempt, according to sources in the know of the project, was at the recent meeting of the Northern Governors’ Forum in Abuja where reports indicated that attempts were made to expand the scope of the project beyond the Northern region to the Southern part of the country.
It was learnt that close associates of the Jigawa governor were said to have encouraged the Talakawa politician to back out of the project to avoid been drawn into an alleged face-off between President Goodluck Jonathan and former President Obasanjo.
A former minister from Jigawa State said to be very close to the governor was quoted as having expressed worries about the alleged dragging of the governor into the cold war between the president and Obasanjo.
“He told their caucus that the governor should not be used as a sacrificial lamb. Lamido is a kind man who is not over-ambitious as to be used against the president“, the source said.
Checks, however, showed that contrary to reports, both Jonathan and  Obasanjo were still in contacts despite their recent open disagreements.
A former minister, who is widely regarded as a political son of the former president, told Sunday Tribune on Saturday that “the two leaders are only playing power games”, adding “Baba and the president are very much together because what is at stake is too much.
“Of course,the duo are free to disagree but let me tell you that they are very much together. Whoever puts his head in between the matter may have himself to blame later,” the ex-minister said.
Sunday Tribune had earlier reported that the rumoured choice of the Jigawa governor had split the North into nine presidential camps namely: Namadi Sambo/Goodluck Jonathan; Governor Babangida Aliyu/Atiku Abubakar; Senate President David Mark/Senator Bukola Saraki; Governor Isa Yuguda/Governor SuleLamido; General Muhammadu Buhari/Nasir el-Rufai and Senator Sani Yerima/Ali Modu Sheriff.
The Northern wing of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was discovered to have split into seven presidential camps. The Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) remained under uneasy alliance between General Buhari and Mallam el-Rufai, while the All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP) was under the banner of former Governors Ali Modu Sheriff and Sani Yerima.
Findings, however, showed that despite the agitation in the North, nine out of the 15 PDP governors in the region were still supporting President Jonathan for re-election in 2015, a development said to have been accelerated by the Lamido factor in the race for the presidency.
PDP Northern governors said to be covertly or overtly with the Jonathan/Sambo ticket included Patrick Yakowa of Kaduna State, AliyuWamakko of Sokoto State, Rabiu Kwankwaso of Kano State, Gabriel Suswam of Benue State and Idris Wada of Kogi State.
Others included Danbaba Suntai of Taraba State, Ibrahim Dankwambo of Gombe State, Jonah Jang of Plateau State and Usman Saidu Dakingari of Kebbi State.
Further investigations showed that while three of the remaining six PDP governors were rumoured to be in the presidential race (Niger/Jigawa/ Bauchi), the other three (Kwara/Katsina/Adamawa), were said to be undecided on the Jonathan ticket because of either the interest of their godfathers or their allegiance to other presidential hopefuls.