Posted by From Agaju Madugba in Kaduna on
Former Minister of Foreign Affairs and chieftain of the People's Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Sule Lamido, yesterday warned Vice President Atiku Abubakar to shun misguided elements outside the party out to make him commit political suicide.
Former Minister of Foreign Affairs and chieftain of the People's Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Sule Lamido, yesterday warned Vice President Atiku Abubakar to shun misguided elements outside the party out to make him commit political suicide.
Lamido said since the vice president has his political antecedent in the defunct Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM) and Peoples Front (PF) Atiku has to understand the fundamental principle of 'military loyalty" as espoused by the group's patriarch, the late Gen. Shehu Musa Yar'adua.
Addressing reporters in Kaduna, Lamido said the on-going re-validation exercise of the PDP was designed to weed out non-conformists from the party.
He accused non-members of the PDP of promoting certain tendencies aimed at discrediting the party.
According to Lamido, 'these people are promoting emotions, especially regarding the Vice President. They are not being fair to him. He is our Vice President and we love him, he is our son.
'Those promoting these sentiments want him to commit political suicide. They don't like him. Some people trade with individuals in the PDP, like at the stock exchange. They invest in particular candidates and when they realise they may lose their investment, they begin to make noise. These people who are ranting and raving are nowhere near the PDP.
'The President remains the centre of everything in Nigeria. So, there is no question of re-defining loyalty. It has to be holistic and comprehensive loyalty. You dilute it at your own peril.
'Anybody who knows the antecedents of the PF and PDM and the founder (Yar'adua), they expect nothing but military loyalty. Yar'adua and Obasanjo were personal friends, they were one and the same.
'Given their (Obasanjo and Atiku) background in the PF and PDM, they should have the same political philosophy in terms of military loyalty. The PDM platform is total military loyalty.
'The feud between the president and the vice president is an internal affair of the PDP. It means that the party is alive and breathing and we have the capacity and sagacity to deal with it.
'The problem is that people who are not in the PDP begin to peep through the window and decide what is happening within the party. The fears are being expressed by outsiders who do not have any ideas of what is happening inside. The feud is our internal affair".
Lamido described the PDP revalidation exercise as timely as it would enhance the party's credibility. As he put it, 'a political party is supposed to be disciplined because it is nourished by the goodwill of the Nigerian people.
'The PDP is healthy and boisterous so, there is bound to be struggle for power because there is no other party. But there should be discipline, but you should not destroy the party in the process of power struggle.
'We are going to insist on total loyalty in the PDP so that people will have confidence in us. If you are not ready to comply, you go out and form your own party".
Lamido was in Kaduna where he attended a meeting of the Northern Elements Progressive Union (NEPU) and Peoples Redemption Party (PRP).
He said that a group of like-minded people including himself were in the process of re-inventing the ideals of the NEPU - PRP, adding that, 'there is this growing concern and worry about the character of the Nigerian politics, the distortions, the delusions with the attendant fears and anxieties.
'Nigerian voters are entitled to the best calibre of leadership, therefore, this concern of ours informed our coming together to re-ignite the NEPU-PRP fire of nationalism. Nigeria is ripe to demand honest and sincere leadership. A leadership which is compassionate, humane and will cater for the people.
'I will remain in the PDP but we want to restore some form of political sanity. There are various interests in the PDP and it has a queer chemistry. We are trying to use the PDP to promote the values of the NEPU-PRP; values of honesty, transparency and human concern."