MY POLITICAL AMBITION IS THE REASON FOR MY PERSECUTION

Sule Lamido, the former governor of Jigawa state, has attributed his arrest and perceived persecution to his desire to run for president in 2019.

This was disclosed by his chief press secretary, Umar Kyari, in a chat with The Vanguard on Monday.

He said the current state governor, Mohammed Badaru is “scared stiff ” of Lamido’s ambition and clout and “raised a false alarm” as his party might lose the local elections slated for July 1.

“But it is rather too late for anyone to stop Lamido from achieving his political ambition come 2019 since the people have already seen that he has what it takes to rule Nigeria and lift it out of the woods.”

Lamido, according to the Force public relations officer (PRO), Moshood Jimoh, was arrested and is being investigated after the “state government complained against his directive to his supporters to cause trouble and we had to wade in.”

Meanwhile, the Ahmed Makarfi-led Caretaker Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has demanded his release.

The party pointed to the Jonathan administration which instituted no legal proceeding against President Buhari when he was accused of making inciting comments in the run-up to the 2011 election.

In the same vein, the party demanded the release of other PDP ex-governors –Gabriel Suswam and Babangida Aliyu– and other party members who are currently incarcerated.

These were disclosed in a statement by the faction’s spokesperson, Dayo Adeyeye.

According to the statement, Lamido was not arrested for inciting the people but because of the forthcoming local elections in Jigawa state.

“The APC-led administration is fast losing the confidence of the people because of its non-performance, high handedness and lack of empathy for the suffering of the people.

“The only option left for it is to prevent the opposition from effectively campaigning and mobilising the people for the elections. The whole strategy of the failed APC government is founded on the assumption that if there is no opposition, then they cannot be defeated.

“Governor Lamido merely asked the people to defend their votes against rigging. How is that a crime? If you are not planning to steal the peoples’ votes, why should you be afraid if the people are advised to defend their votes? Of course, no thief would want the owner to guide his house against burglary.

“The excesses of the security agencies have now reached alarming proportions. If they must be reminded, their mandate is to defend all Nigerians and not to act as a willing instrument of oppression of the people by the autocratic APC government,” the statement added.