Sule Lamido on PDP crisis: Let us forgive each other

….’We are brothers, sisters’ lSays people in APC willing to come back to PDP

By Henry Umoru 

ABUJA- FORMER governor of Jigawa State and  a chieftain of  Peoples Democratic Party,  PDP, has urged members and those who left to forgive one another as brothers and sisters, and sheathe their sword, saying the All Progressives Congress,  APC, and African Democratic Congress, ADC,  were full of PDP members.

He said the PDP must reposition itself as a unifying platform if it hoped to remain relevant in future elections.

Lamido warned that failure to do so could diminish its historical legacy, and urged party stakeholders to prioritise unity over rivalry, stressing that Nigeria’s broader challenges required a stronger and more coordinated opposition voice.

He also warned that ongoing internal divisions within the party could weaken its ability to function as a credible opposition force in Nigeria’s evolving political landscape, adding  that opposition politics required discipline and unity, especially at a time of security and poverty challenges confronting the people.

He said:  “Politics today has become too trivial. Meanwhile, insecurity, poverty, and divisions are ignored. Governance has been reduced to palliatives. In medical terms, palliative is what you give someone who is about to die, just to ease the pain. That is what governance has become.”

According to him, the crisis is not just about leadership contests but about the erosion of unity within a party that once defined Nigeria’s democratic architecture.

“The cost is enormous, to cohesion, to unity. It is a painful victory because it has deepened division,” he said.

Answering questions on the Supreme Court ruling on the PDP political crisis, the former minister of foreign affairs who noted that the PDP risked losing its strategic relevance if it continued to prioritise personal ambition over collective rebuilding, described the current situation as a “painful victory” that had left deep political scars.

He argued that legal wins alone would not heal internal fractures or restore trust among members.

Lamido, who noted that the PDP’s foundational strength laid in its broad-based democratic culture, however, warned that this strength was being weakened by what he called “internal fragmentation and ego-driven politics.”

He stressed that the party’s internal struggles were distracting from its core responsibility of offering policy alternatives and holding government accountable, querying “has this judgment added to the economy? Has it improved security? Has it reduced poverty?” 

The former Jogawa governor stated further:  “Let us forgive each other. We are brothers and sisters. Why should we be prisoners of the moment? Life is dynamic. Today’s anger should not destroy tomorrow’s future.

“The most dangerous thing is a family fight. When a family begins to fight itself, it becomes very bitter. But for the sake of posterity, we must forgive and come back together.

“I don’t see any party that can dominate Nigeria in the next 50 years more than PDP. Other parties are ad hoc, arrangements of convenience.

“If you go to APC or ADC, you will find PDP people. So who am I fighting? That is the irony. It is all PDP in different forms.

“I really, really don’t know how to react to this issue. Victory is ours, but then victory is for whom? It’s a party, which is like a family, and for no reason whatsoever, we found ourselves in this kind of foolish fight, this civil war. 

“There is no basis for it. PDP has a history, a shared legacy, a shared heritage. It is something we all worked and toiled for. I don’t see why we should even fight in the first instance over positions, over leadership.

“The party is built on democracy. The main pillar of PDP is democracy — people, party, democracy. So there is no problem if within us we struggle for positions. That is normal. But it should not get to a personal level where pride and ego come into it. To me, it has never been personal.

“If I emerge through a smooth, inclusive, transparent process, then it becomes a collective effort. The victory belongs to the party, not to the individual. If I lose, I have not lost. If I win, it is not my personal victory. It is about fulfilling our common objective.

“My plan, if I had become chairman, was to invite Obasanjo, Atiku, Jonathan, Namadi, former Senate presidents and speakers, the symbols of the party. PDP made them, and we have every right to bring them back, to use that symbolism to send a strong message that PDP is back.

“A number of people in APC are more than willing to come back to PDP. They are unhappy but feel safe where they are. They say, ‘give us something strong, something protective, and we will return.’ That was the vision.”

Taking a swipe  at what he described as a growing obsession with internal power struggles, Lamido also warned that political instability within the PDP could create opportunities for further defections and weaken opposition cohesion nationwide.

According to him, many politicians still move fluidly between parties, based on convenience rather than ideology.

He called for urgent reconciliation efforts, insisting that dialogue remained the only sustainable path to resolving political disputes.

“No matter what you do legally, you still need a political solution,” he said, adding that unresolved grievances could continue to destabilise the party.

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