Posted by From TONY OSAUZO, Benin on
Former vice president Atiku Abubakar has described Jigawa State Governor Sule Lamido as a bootlicker who talks before he thinks.
Former vice president Atiku Abubakar has described Jigawa State Governor Sule Lamido as a bootlicker who talks before he thinks.
The former vice president was reacting to a statement credited to the Jigawa State Governor shortly after he left Otta Farms , at the weekend in which he was quoted as saying he, Atiku, was a 'beneficiary of Obasanjo's evils."
In a statement released in Abuja by the Atiku Campaign Media Office, Atiku said incessant attacks on his person by Lamido is a fallout of his refusal to fund the Jigawa Governor's campaign to the tune of N100 million as requested by him(Lamido).
Speaking on Lamido's argument that Atiku is a beneficiary of Obasanjo's 'evil," the Campaign Office said 'we do not know of the benefits of evil. The verdict of history on Obasanjo and Atiku is already becoming evident and it is significant that even Lamido admits that his mentor is 'evil".
Atiku, however, objected to Lamido's claim that he was a 'nobody" before Obasanjo made him vice presidential candidate in 1999.
'It is God that makes people, not individuals and the former vice president remains grateful to God for what He had made of him by 1999. He retired from the public service as Deputy Director of Customs and worked closely with the late General Shehu Musa Yar'Adua to establish a political group that remains a reference point in the annals of Nigerian politics. He contested to be gubernatorial candidate of the SDP in Adamawa State and was at the point of picking the ticket in 1990 when the military disqualified him for no justifiable reason.
'He contested the presidential primaries of the SDP, coming third in a race of 30 candidates and made a sacrifice for the emergence of Chief M.K.O Abiola as the party's candidate. Under the current Republic, Atiku ran for the office of the governor of his native Adamawa State and won, before General Obasanjo saw the need to pick him as his running mate.
This definitely is not the profile of 'a nobody" who became a vice presidential candidate to Obasanjo in 1999.The story of how and why he became Obasanjo's running mate is a story for another day but even former President Obasanjo will be amused that this self-appointed attack dog of his would describe Atiku as a nobody in 1999.That is the danger of shallow minds taking on responsibilities beyond their capacity. Can Lamido, on the other hand be said to have won a credible election to the office of governor in an election that nobody, in Nigeria and abroad accepts to be the expression of popular will?
Atiku, in the statement also said Lamido is not a credible teacher on the values of loyalty and betrayal. On these issues (of loyalty and betrayal), Atiku said it is gratifying that Lamido pontificates that those who had good upbringing will not betray their benefactors.
'We invite him to tell Nigerians if his betrayal of the late Malam Aminu Kano in the Second Republic, a man who picked him from the streets as a salesman for AC Christlieb, and made him somebody, is evidence of good upbringing. We invite him to tell Nigerians if his betrayal of Abubakar Rimi, with whom they literally stripped Aminu Kano bare, to the point of the man's agonising death, qualifies him to lecture anyone on the virtues of loyalty and good up-bringing.
We invite Lamido to tell Nigerians what happened between his endless attacks on Rimi, when it was convenient for him to do so as minister under Obasanjo, and the new song he sings of Rimi today, and to say really, if it is possible for a man to serve two masters at the same time.
Is it evidence of loyalty that Lamido, whose campaign was bankrolled by Governor Saminu Turaki would turn the machinery of the entire Jigawa State Government into a weapon for the persecution of his benefactor? In short can a man give that which he does not have? The problem of Sule Lamido is that he lacks the capacity to understand issues beyond mouthing worn out street clichés hence his incoherence and inconsistency of thought."
The statement ended with a claim that Lamido's incessant attack on Atiku is fallout of Atiku's refusal to fund Lamido's campaign for the 2007 election.
'Sule Lamido had earlier admitted that his incessant attack on Atiku was borne out of anger over Atiku's refusal to fund his gubernatorial election.
'As a candidate in the April 2007 elections, Lamido had claimed that he learnt that Atiku gave gubernatorial candidates N100m to fund their campaign. He requested that Atiku should extend this to him. Apart from refuting the claim of N100m campaign gift, Atiku invited him to join the Action Congress."
'We implore Lamido to devote his time to a worthy cause and leave Atiku out of his quest to gain national reference. Atiku is not his mate."