Former Jigawa State Governor and founding member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Sule Lamido, has expressed his willingness to join forces with like-minded political arrangement to foster a stronger opposition ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Lamido voiced concerns over the current administration’s approach to governance, citing issues of national cohesion and democratic principles.
Speaking in an interview with ARISE NEWS on Saturday, he emphasised the need for a united opposition to provide a credible alternative to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). While supporting a coalition to unseat APC, Lamido warned that such a coalition must be issue-based, not motivated by vengeance or personal ambition like the 2014 APC alliance.
He said, “The coalition I’m talking about is not similar to what we had in 2014 — a coalition of anger, revenge, hatred, and nothing but ambition,” while reiterating that it should be based on national unity, security, economy, and restoring Nigeria’s honour.
He criticised President Bola Tinubu’s government as lacking a cohesive national vision and being overly focused on partisan interests, calling for a more inclusive and effective leadership framework.
“I am part of any arrangement, no matter by whatever nomenclature or name, to remove the current government of incompetency, of insecurity, of dividing Nigerian family between North and South, out of power. I’ll go into any arrangement for that purpose,” Lamido said.
“Today in Nigeria, we’ve got a government which is dividing Nigerians along north and south, dividing Nigerians along ethnicity lines, and also using institutions of the state in manipulating and controlling and coercing the opposition,” he added.
“So to me, any arrangement, I’ll be part of any arrangement of any chemistry, any configuration, whatever you may call it, if it’s going to move this government out of power, because the government for the first time in Nigeria is now a government not for Nigerians, but then for the political party. The entire government today in Nigeria is not for Nigeria, it’s for the political party.”
Lamido in the interview, disagreed with President Tinubu’s widely celebrated legacy as a pro-democracy figure, alleging that the President was aligned with General Ibrahim Babangida at the time of the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, won by Chief M.K.O. Abiola.
His words: “He was part of those people who were supporting Babangida’s annulment of June 12. His own mother, Hajiya Mogaji from Lagos, was organising Lagos working women to come to Abuja to pledge support for Babangida. I’m saying this because it’s simply history. I mean no harm. I don’t mean to embarrass him. But you see, he was actively handing gloves to Babangida.”
Lamido raised concerns about Tinubu’s leadership approach, characterizing it as centralised and driven by personal political interests rather than a commitment to broader national, regional, or ideological principles.
“Tinubu is not about Yoruba. Tinubu is about him and him alone, his own interest. And whoever is going to play his own role, who is going to do his own bidding, he’ll bring him. I’ve been saying so. It’s not about Yoruba. All the Yoruba in APC today, in government, are his own boys who are going to do his own bidding, no more, no less. He’s willing to go and bring somebody from the south-south, southeast, or even from the north, so long as they are going to do Tinubu. So Tinubu is behaving like the emperor he is.”
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