2015: Sule Lamido as VP

IF propagandistic and powerdrunk governors who are performing abysmally are desperately and noisily agitating to retire to the Senate after eight years of systemic ruination of their states, what will their distinguished colleagues like Governors Sule Lamido of Jigawa State, Barrister (Dr.) Ibrahim Shehu Shema (Katsina), Barrister Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom) and Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan (Delta) do? From all indications, President Goodluck Jonathan’s running mate in the 2015 election most likely would be the altruistic governor of Jigawa State, Alhaji Sule Lamido.
I have the conviction that the two gentlemen will take this country to unimaginable heights and I therefore declare that the summit of good governance is here with this strategic pairing.
All the six helmsmen before Gov. Lamido in the administration or governorship of 23-year-old Jigawa State, particularly his predecessor, Senator Ibrahim Saminu Turaki, put together cannot equal the present governor in terms of accomplishments as testified to by President Jonathan a fortnight ago—which is essentially why I am vehemently advocating their joint ticket for consolidation of transformations. If Gov. Lamido could do so much with a regime of poor IGR and stipends from the monthly statutory allocation (crassly incomparable to South-South and some South-East states’ fiscal superfluity) without domestic or foreign borrowing, what will happen when he gets to the pinnacle of leadership?
Latest developments in political circles are confirmatory of my two earlier submissions on this page not too long ago. I had declared unassailably that Gov. Lamido would either become president next year or in 2019. The slight modification I will make is that he will now systematically be vice-president and thereafter president in succession to President Jonathan in 2019. In my reference to this likelihood, one reader had accused me of playing God by being overtly futuristic, pointing out if I knew whether my candidate and I would be alive in 2015!
Fatalism has never stopped humanity from being adventurous, ambitious and daring. Shall we because of the inevitability of death live without planning, without strategy, without belief in tomorrow? Such fatalistic, pessimistic and defeatist attitude to life is antithetical to human existentialism and bizarrely retrogressive. Why do people go to war despite the high probability of death?
President Jonathan, Gov. Lamido and I will live to proclaim the Lord’s goodness.
And so shall it be. I can never be pessimistic about life because my present and future circumstances belong to God.
The pair of Dr. Jonathan and Alhaji Lamido will create a formidable leadership for the country because both of them have the same revolutionary attitude to development. Their commitment
to the re-engineering of their respective spheres of influence is unparalleled. I will concentrate on the candidacy and democratic credentials of Gov. Lamido because what President Jonathan is doing is manifestly clear for everyone to see. This same perception may not apply to Gov. Lamido’s far-away Jigawa, where you need to visit to appreciate
this intervention. I have been to all older states and others created 23 years ago like Jigawa. I tell you verifiably, Gov. Lamido has renewed the entirety of his state so much that you will never believe it is the same state that Alhaji Saminu  Turaki governed for eight years from cyberspace with nothing except an ICT relic as evidence of his virtual tenure! Gov. Lamido has graciously named the hilly ICT legacy after Turaki, his predecessor in office. I have the privilege of having visited Jigawa in its dark days and also in its illuminative currency.
Most Nigerians are unaware of the role Gov. Lamido played in the election of President Jonathan in 2011. There were plots for Alhaji Lamido to challenge the endorsement of President Jonathan and contest the presidential primaries of the PDP, sabotage the process that threw up President Jonathan and/or get the North West zone to embark on a protest vote that could have changed the outcome of the presidential poll. But Gov. Lamido chose the path of statesmanship and allowed sleeping dogs to lie while bidding the opportune time to actualize his dream of leading this country, ultimately, which
is about to unfold. President Jonathan cannot forget this in a hurry because Gov. Lamido’s unflinching commitment to the Jonathan presidency in 2011 and
beyond remains unparalleled.
One characteristic of Gov. Lamido which is rare among Nigerian politicians is his disgust for equivocation. This is one politician that calls a spade a spade no matter the circumstance or people involved.
He has no apologies or reservations for forthrightness. Gov. Lamido is dispassionate and loyal to a fault. In the Nigerian milieu, he is not supposed to be a politician because of his frankness,
uprightness and fear of his Creator. His peers conversely celebrate these negativities.
If you are looking for a reliable and trustworthy public servant who abhors gobbledygook and corruption, Gov. Lamido is the man. His quintessential altruism is inestimably indescribable. If he disappoints as vice-president to President Jonathan in the upcoming election, let him not succeed him as I had strongly canvassed. But, if he lives up to half of my expectations going by his profuse antecedents and robust leadership and administrative profiles spanning ambassadorial and foreign ministerial services to his fatherland—not forgetting the present redefinition of good governance in Jigawa State—let him be the consensual candidate of the PDP in late 2018 preparatory to 2019.
We need men driven by a passion to serve, not kleptomaniac looters, surrogates and bureaucratic bandits whose idea of leadership at whatever level is thievishness! Gov. Lamido’s humaneness is another developmental issue entirely which is better left for another day.
Another aversion of Gov. Lamido is poverty. Despite his aristocratic background and modest (not obscene) opulence, he is unusually touched when he sees people being ravaged by poverty
in a land of plenty, a rich nation. Most persons of his circumstance do not understand the challenges of poverty because they have never experienced it and as such do not comprehend what it is all
about as to empathize with the under-privileged population. This explains why he has been able to drastically reduce poverty to insignificance by empowering his people in and out of Jigawa State. Hardly can you see almajiris (beggars) in any part of Jigawa: they have been taken off the streets to citadels of learning or craft centres that dot the state.
This is the kind of leader we need at the federal level who will work in conjunction with the president to fully transform the country. By the time he combines his
excellence in Jigawa with the experience of President Jonathan, the country will know that two good heads at Aso Rock are better than just two heads!
Last month, President Jonathan went to Dutse, the capital of Jigawa State, to inaugurate the multi-billion naira ultramodern airport started and completed by Gov. Lamido. I went to Dutse as an independent
observer to witness the reality for myself and on that occasion President Jonathan justified my trip, expense and time with these uncommon laudatory words that will remain evergreen: “From 2007 till now,
I have seen what Lamido has done. I have to thank him immensely for the transformation of the state. I know what this state was and I have seen what he has done so far to change the tide. Within
Lamido’s tenure, even the blind will see that he has performed.” With this unflattering presidential testimony, which other testament or endorsement does this man need?
President Jonathan needs Lamido’s clout, political deftness and depth to break Northern ranks ahead of 2015. I am confident that victory for the Jonathan-Lamido partnership is certain, irrevocable
and unimpeachable. God has annulled all oppositional forces. Alhaji, I will come to Aso Villa next year to celebrate with you, by God’s grace!