2019: Sule Lamido, first Northerner to declare for president

Former gov­ernor of Jigawa State, Mallam Sule Lamido, has declared for president, making him the first northerner in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to publicly show interest in the plum job in 2019.

The PDP has zoned its pres­idency to the North, notwith­standing that Ekiti State gov­ernor, Ayodele Fayose also recently vowed to also con­test for the position.

In a letter to PDP members, Lamido said what the party needs to reposition Nigeria is to take over power in 2019 and bring it back to its path of re­covery.

His words: “Today, 57 years after the independence of our dear country, can we in all sin­cerity claim to have achieved the dream of our founding fathers?

“Where did we fail and from where did we begin to fail? Nige­ria with its natural endowment and human capacity cannot be forgiven for being otherwise.

“We cannot even demonstrate our ability and capacity to meet domestic, regional and glob­al challenges which currently seems to overwhelm us.

“The PDP will and must lead the nation back into a bright, progressive, and innovative fu­ture.”

According to him, the PDP must rekindle in Nigeria a new hope, a nation of united people with a common and assured des­tiny.

Lamido further said: “To the world, Nigeria must demonstrate our confidence, tenacity in our ability and capa­bility to address our domestic re­gional and global challenges that confront us.

“It is against this background that I offer myself to vie for the office of the president of the Fed­eral Republic of Nigeria in 2019 if my party finds me worthy to fly its flag.”

He continued: “I am (by) no means claiming to be the only capable material, any PDP member given the trust and sup­port can fly our flag, and I ex­pect many more aspirants will express the desire to run.

“My hope and prayer is that at the end of all the process which I hope will be open, fair transpar­ent and credible is to give Nige­ria in 2019 candidate who will lead the party and Nigeria.

“This is because there is no al­ternative to PDP in 2019, it will be a defining moment in the Ni­gerian political evolution.