There is self inflicted tension on Nigeria’s political turf with brick bats being thrown left, right and centre with President Muhammadu Buhari dodging his head.
Why? He is the ultimate target – or if we have to be frank, the seat he is sitting on is the target.
Well, we hope these submissions we are about to make are not going to be regarded as ‘hate speech’ by somebody…but then, readers should not mind our Parrots…
Anyway, as we were saying, Parrots have been piecing together details of the events of the past three weeks and have concluded that one man stands to gain at the end of the day. And that man is Alhaji Sule Lamido.
Permit us to start from the issue of the atomic bomb released into Aso Rock by ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo. The letter ‘bomb’ was immediately seen as the ‘un-dodgeable’ red card that has put a halt to the second term ambition of the present occupier of Aso Rock in Abuja.
A few argued though, that Buhari never told anybody or plan to seek re-election come 2019.
As if the Obasanjo bomb was not enough, another former head of state in General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida flew over the seat of power and released his own inter-ballistic missile. Though laden with softer words, the message was the same. Buhari was told to perish all plans (if any) to seek re-election and look for a younger element.
Obasanjo, after releasing his own letter went ahead to ‘knock’ together a movement. IBB is yet to inaugurate his own ‘movement’if at all he has such plans.
Meanwhile, within the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), a political movement has suddenly been put in place. It is called ‘The New Face of Hope’.
According to the group’s Director of Media and Publicity, Imade Ize-Iyamu, the group will ensure the emergence of a detribalized, bold and brave candidate to usher Nigerians to the next level.
Parrots who witnessed the launch of Obasanjo’s movement in Abeokuta and the present development have rightly or wrongly ‘fingered’ Sule Lamido as the man Obasanjo and others have in mind.
Well, for those who do not know, Sule Lamido started his political career under the tutelage of the great and selfless leader, Mallam Aminu Kano. During the Gen. Ibrahim Babangida’s political transition arrangement, Lamido joined the Social Democratic Party, SDP, where he held the position of National Secretary. He was jailed by Gen. Sani Abacha for speaking out against his plan to perpetuate himself in office as a military Head of State. He joined the PDP under Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar’s transition arrangement and was appointed Nigeria’s Foreign Affairs Minister under the newly elected administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo from 1999 to 2003 having been initially considered for the position of Vice President.
His legacy in Jigawa State as former Governor is still being celebrated. Having inherited a relatively small village within a desert which was created by the Gen. Babangida on 27 August, 1991, Lamido transformed this desert into a mega city with access roads to neighbouring states and countries in addition to an International Airport which the government and people of Niger Republic patronise thereby increasing the state’s Internally Generated Revenue, IGR. In his notification letter to his party, on his desire to contest the Presidency in 2019, he acknowledged the right of others while urging his party to be positive, repositioning itself to embrace policies that will benefit the masses.
Sule Lamido was born on August 30, 1948 at Bamiana Village in Jigawa State. He started his education in 1955 at the Birnin Kudu Primary School and later gained admission into the famous Barewa College in Zaria in 1962. At the end of his secondary education, he did a course in Railway Engineering at the Permanent Way Training School in the ancient city of Zaria. On graduation, he started work as a Quality Control Officer at the Nigerian Tobacco Company (NTC) in Zaria.
For now, Parrots wants all fingers crossed as time continues to tell what happens next. Watch out!
Packaged by Alice Egbedele
