PDP helped Buhari become President – Lamido

A former governor of Jigawa State, Alhaji Sule Lamido, has appraised the internal wrangling in the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and has come to the conclusion that President Muhammadu Buhari is the greatest beneficiary of the crisis in the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

The PDP founding father, who argued that there was no way Buhari could have been given an opportunity to contest for presidency at the outset of the present dispensation in 1998/99, claimed that the President was able to come to power in 2015 because of the efforts of the PDP in reconciling and stabilizing the country.

Lamido, who spoke in his Bamaina hometown at the weekend, stated that all the leaders, including himself, are to be blamed for the party’s woes, but maintained that the PDP is beyond any personality, and that it belongs to Nigerians so cannot be appropriated by anybody.

Speaking about the crisis in the party, he said, “It is not about one’s own personality or one’s ego, but it is about this party called PDP which carries the Nigerian hope which was able to get Nigerians stabilised in spite of the vilification and propaganda and prepared the ground fully for Buhari to come in and become a president because if there is any great beneficiary of PDP in Nigeria, it is Buhari.”

The former Jigawa governor continued, “between 1998 and 1999, there was no way Buhari could have gotten the opportunity to contest, he can’t contest I don’t mean to insult him, but it is simply a historical fact that all those that are now calling the shots, is all, thanks to PDP because the country has been stabilised and reconciled.

“So, anybody in the Villa or Government Houses or wherever they are, who are now enjoying this APC thing are simply because PDP was able to restore the country and made it possible for them,” he stated.

“But today, no matter how big you are as a thief, if you go to APC, they would accept you, look at those going to APC in the last two to three weeks, these are people who are literally on trial by the EFCC,” he declared.

“Maybe because the PDP couldn’t stand up for them, that’s why they are going there or maybe APC has no qualms about fraud by accepting them with the intention of cleaning them,” Lamido added.

Jigawa floods kill 18, destroy 6,637 houses

 

Jigawa State Management Agency has confirmed that 18 lives were lost to the recent floods that also destroyed 6,637 houses across 19 local governments in the state.

The Executive of the agency, Yusuf Sani, who confirmed this while briefing newsmen on the activities of the agency in Dutse, the Jigawa State capital, said the disaster occurred during the ongoing rainy season.

He listed areas where people had died as including Gwaram, Dutse, Jahaun, Gumel and Ringim local government areas.

According to him, flood destroyed not less than 141 houses in Dutse, 419 in Jahaun, 525 in Hadeja, 417 in Babura, 525 in Ringim, 822 in Gumel, 529 in Malamadori and 122 in Birnin Kudu LGAs, among others.

Also, Sani said, some of the victims died due to building collapse, pointing out that three persons suffered varying degrees of injuries while the floods raged.