Former governor of Jigawa State, Sule Lamido has urged members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to sheathe their swords and aim for reconciliation.
Lamido warned that failure to do so could diminish PDP’s historical legacy.
He pleaded with party stakeholders to prioritise unity over rivalry, stressing that Nigeria’s broader challenges required a stronger and more coordinated opposition voice.
Speaking via a statement, he noted that the All Progressives Congress, (APC) and African Democratic Congress (ADC) were full of PDP members.
He said, “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.”
