Governor Sule Lamido of Jigawa State has accused the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress APC), Major-General Muhammadu Buhari, of divisive campaigns in the northern and southern parts of the country.
Stating this yesterday at the Malam Aminu Kano Triangle during the official declaration of the gubernatorial candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state and a former chief of staff, Malam Aminu Ibrahim Ringim, alongside his running mate, Dr Nurudeen Mohammad, Lamido noted that a critical look at the situation on the ground exposes people like Buhari as being insincere in both intent and purpose.
Elaborating, Lamido alleged that when Buhari talks to the electorate in the North, he usually plays up the religious card, but once he is in the South, he plays it down by harping on the unity of Nigeria.
Lamido wondered why Buhari had gone out of his way to select a Christian as his running mate and what this portends, adding: “Why then are our people vilified and maligned because they refuse to vote for a Muslim as their president and have opted for a Christian?
“If not, why is it that he chose a Christian as his running mate and shunned the Muslim community, then he turns round to tell the people in the North that his contest is anchored on promoting and guiding their ideological faith.”
The governor was of the opinion that “so long as we want Nigeria to get out of her present predicament, we must be sincere in the way we practise democracy so as to avoid a bloodbath and the rampant killing of Nigerians because of the interest of a few individuals.”
Not stopping at blaming solely the former military head of state, Lamido said the main problem of Nigeria today politically speaking is the duo of President Goodluck Jonathan of the PDP and his main rival, Buhari, who will be squaring up against each other in the 2015 presidential election.
Lamido said except they are ready to clearly distinguish between their interests and the corporate existence of Nigeria as an indivisible entity, the country would be heading for doom.
He said Nigeria is at a crossroads and blamed the two personalities for the impending danger ahead of the nation.
He warned that after the declaration of the winner of the 2015 presidential election, there could be mayhem if the provocative statements of the supporters of both candidates are anything to go by.
According to him, “Buhari and Jonathan are the albatross of the nation due to their desperation to lead Nigeria at all cost.”
Lamido, who did not want to be seen as an alarmist, said: “Today a vote for either of them could lead Nigeria to an untimely division as well as push others to their early graves.
“We have heard the devilish pronouncements of people like Edwin Clark and Dokubo Asari and Buba Galadima, among others who were predicting a bad end for the country should we Nigerians fail to a vote for either Jonathan or General Buhari and going by what their supporters are preaching, if either of them fails to scale through, it could destabilise Nigeria.”
Lamido, however, hoped that Nigeria will survive the intrigues, adding that it was unfortunate that their supporters are preaching doom for the nation.
He urged the Jigawa electorate, especially members of the PDP to vote for the candidates of their choice and told them not be intimidated or coerced into inappropriate decisions.
Other candidates at the declaration rally were the three senatorial contenders who were handed the party’s flags to gun for their respective seats during the forthcoming elections.
