Former Jigawa governor Sule Lamido believes the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) “northern consensus presidential candidates” named on Friday do not reflect the views of party members in the region.
Four presidential hopefuls — former Senate President Bukola Saraki, Bauchi Governor Bala Mohammed, Sokoto Governor Aminu Tambuwal, and Mohammed Hayatu-Deen, former managing director of the now-defunct FSB International Bank — have held consultations across the country on a consensus candidacy in recent weeks.
Following the issuance of a report by Ango Abdullahi, elder statesman, Saraki and Bala Mohammed were named “northern consensus candidates” on Friday.
Tambuwal, on the other hand, had rejected the report, claiming that it did not reflect the agreement struck at an earlier meeting between the four candidates.
In a statement issued on Saturday, Lamido described the report as the “personal opinion” of those who issued it.
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“The attention of key stakeholders of the PDP in the northern states is drawn to reports in the media that some northern elders have shortlisted two of our prominent and deserving aspirants as consensus PDP presidential candidates,” the statement reads.
“Having widely consulted party leaders across the 19 northern states and FCT, it is hereby stated to our teeming party members and the general public that what is reported in the media is only the personal opinion of those who issued the statement and not the position of the PDP members in the north.
“Discussions are ongoing with ALL the aspirants in our party with a view to having a national consensus if possible or at least working towards having a smooth, acrimony-free national convention.
“The position of the northern elders is not only injurious to the north but equally injurious to the northern aspirants.”
