2023: Sule Lamido rejects Saraki, Mohammed as Northern consensus candidates

Former executive governor of Jigawa State, Sule Lamido has rejected an arrangement that produced a former Senate President, Bukola Saraki, and the Bauchi State governor, Bala Mohammed, as the northern consensus candidates of the party for next year’s election.

Prof Ango Abdullahi had on Friday after a meeting in Minna, said Saraki and Mohammed were chosen as northern consensus candidates of the PDP.

The duo were said to have been shortlisted by northern leaders of the party ahead of its presidential primary on May 28.

Their emergence was part of the recommendations made by a committee which is made up of northern leaders and presidential aspirants in the party.

But Lamido in a statement rejected the statement credited to the northern elders saying it was not only injurious to the North but equally injurious to the Northern aspirants.

The statement reads: “The attention of key stakeholders of the PDP in the Northern State is drawn to reports in the Media that some Northern Elders have shortlisted two of our prominent and deserving aspirants as consensus PDP Presidential Candidates.

“Having widely consulted Party Leaders across the 19 Northern States and FCT, it is hereby stated to our teeming Party members and the general public that what is reported in the Media is only the personal opinion of those who issued the statement and not the position of the PDP members in the North! Discussions are ongoing with ALL the aspirants in our Party with a view to having a National Consensus if possible or at least working towards having a smooth acrimony free National Convention.

“The position of the Northern Elders is not only injurious to the North but equally injurious to the Northern Aspirants!”