Former Jigawa State Governor and chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Sule Lamido, has threatened to take legal action against the party if he is denied access to purchase nomination forms for the position of National Chairman ahead of the forthcoming national convention scheduled for 15 and 16 November in Ibadan, Oyo State.
Lamido issued the threat while addressing journalists in Abuja on Monday after his attempts to obtain the form at the party’s national secretariat, Wadata Plaza, proved unsuccessful.
The former governor said both the National Secretary, Senator Samuel Anyanwu, and the National Organising Secretary, Umaru Bature, had denied knowledge of the whereabouts of the forms.
“I came here to purchase my own form. I went to the office of the National Organising Secretary, where the forms are normally sold, but the office was locked.
I met him and the Secretary of the Party, and both said they had no idea where the forms were or how they were being distributed,” Lamido told reporters.
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The development comes after the PDP, during its 102nd National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting on 25 August, resolved to zone its 2027 presidential ticket to the South while allocating the National Chairmanship to the North.
Following the zoning arrangement, Northern PDP leaders met over the weekend and micro-zoned the position to the North-West, endorsing former Minister of Special Duties, Tanimu Turaki (SAN), as the consensus candidate.
However, some Northern stakeholders, including Lamido’s allies, have rejected the decision, claiming they were not consulted.
In what appears to deepen the internal rift, reports suggest that the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, is backing his ally and former Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, for the same position.
Lamido, who arrived at the PDP headquarters with his supporters shortly after 11 a.m., expressed frustration that the offices were locked, insisting that the sale of forms should take place at the national secretariat, not at the convention committee’s annex in Maitama.
He stressed that he would not hesitate to seek legal redress if the party continues to deny him access to the form.
“If I don’t get the form, I will go to court, simple. The PDP should be able to organise its own house and follow its constitution. The only way we can win elections is through discipline and internal order,” he said.
Lamido criticised the governors’ consensus arrangement, calling it undemocratic and exclusionary.
“If there are consultations, there can be consensus. But if there are no consultations, then we are not united. My zone never met before that endorsement,” he added.
The former governor reaffirmed his commitment to strengthening the PDP, describing it as the only viable platform capable of rescuing Nigeria from what he called the “evil system” of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
