“Why We Are Fighting Jonathan” – Lamido, Aliyu Reveal

The end seems not in sight to the crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, as the aggrieved seven governors operating on the platform of the new PDP (nPDP) are insisting that President Goodluck Jonathan must meet their demands presented at previous meetings they held with him (president). One of the governors, Dr Aliyu Babangida of Niger State, however, blamed external forces for fueling the crisis between the presidency and the G7 governors and warned party members to be wary of those who are desperate to pull down the party. Speaking for the seven governors, the deputy National Chairman of the Party, North West, Ambassador Ibrahim Musa Kazaure disclosed that up till now, there was no indication that the Tukur-led PDP was prepared to accept the terms of reconciliation the governors had listed.

Meanwhile, the Governor of Jigawa State, Alhaji Sule Lamido had earlier vowed that the G7 governors would continue to fight on and would never back down, insisting that their cause is just and pro-masses.

Lamido told a crowd in Sokoto where he went to commission projects, that the G7 had saddled themselves with the task of rescuing the Nigerian democracy and the need to re-organise the PDP to make the party comply with the yearnings and aspiration of ordinary members.

Lamido, who noted that the governors have only been fighting on the side of the masses of Nigeria whom he said have had a raw deal, stressed that the struggle by the G7 was also to ensure that no one, either at the federal or state levels would be able to stand in the way of the down trodden, adding that the struggle was to ensure the return of Nigeria to the path of the truth, justice, equity, fair play and stability of Nigeria.

He said: “The media had referred to us as rebels. But we are not rebels at all. We are the true democrats. We are the custodians of democracy in the land. We are not for any ethnic or religious bias but fighting to make sure democracy in the nation does not die. We are fighting against the enemies of democracy and we  don’t plan to give up on that struggle because what we are fighting for has not been actualized.

“I want to assure you that the group has come to stay until justice is restored in our party. I can see the banners of seven of us everywhere here in Sokoto. So we have come to stay.”