Jigawa State governor, Sule Lamido and ex-Minister of Internal Affairs in the Second Republic, Senator Bello Maitama Yusuf, are at logger heads over Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) campaign funds.
Senator Yusuf had been accused by the governor and the PDP of pocketing the money given him to distribute to electorates in his constituency to mobilize them to vote for the party, but the Senator reportedly abandoned the cause and instead defected to All Progressives Congress (APC).
In response to the allegations against him, Senator Yusuf dragged the leadership of PDP in Jigawa State before a Federal High Court in Dutse, the state capital for defamation and character assassination. He also vowed to expose the governor’s activities and release the threat message sent him by the governor.
Governor Lamido’s text message, according to Senator Yusuf, read: “True, I have only five weeks to go, but I will jail you before I go.
“We also, today (yesterday) at council meeting, discussed Garun Gabas road contract and by council authority sent all related documents to EFCC and copied same to Buhari, the President-elect.”
Effort by Vanguard to contact Commissioner of Information, Babandi Ibrahim, for further comments on the issue proved abortive as he did not pick several calls made to his line.
However, in a swift reaction to the threats by Lamido, Senator Yusuf explained that no amount of threat and intimidation from the governor would deter him.
He said: “He is just not happy with my defection to APC and if he continues to threaten me, I will expose some of his shady deals. So we will see who will be jailed.”
“Did they give me cash or cheque? Sule Lamido will never forgive me because he felt I was the one who brought him down.
“Why should he give me money for campaign? Am I a leader of his party? What kind of money?
“This is a person who will never want go down alone. I swear by Allah, he will never relent to want to tear my name.
“Do you remember five years ago, when he revoked a road contract and said I had to refund some money, which turned out to be false?
“He is just blackmailing me for leaving PDP to join APC and to help in its victory in the just-concluded elections. The whole thing is his fabrication,”he concluded.
Recently, Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso, the Kano state governor, strongly criticized Lamido, saying that he committed political suicide by not defecting from PDP to the APC.
Meanwhile, the gale of defections rocking the PDP is still on. Prominent members of the party in Plateau state moved en-masse to the APC last week.
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