By Ameh Ejekwonyilo
Governor of Jigawa state, Alhaji Sule Lamido, has said that he could not ignore former Head of State, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) and Vice-President Atiku Abubakar during the duo’s separate visits to the state recently.
Lamido stated this in an exclusive interview with Blueprint at the weekend in Dutse, the Jigawa state capital.
He said: “There is no way I would simply ignore Buhari, because he is a member of the APC or CPC. I can’t because he is a symbol of our sovereignty as a former Head of State. Therefore, he deserves all the courtesy. He was coming to Jigawa state, our state. I can’t because of political consideration refuse to attend the wedding ceremony of a friend or an associate.”
Lamido decried the high level of political bickering in the country, saying: “There are people who should not be in the realm of political wrangling. We cannot lose our essence of human beings for political consideration, but unfortunately we’re losing our essence.
“Buhari was coming to Jigawa to attend the wedding ceremony of his friend, Farouk Adams. He is not an ordinary person; former Head of State. Farouk is an APC man and Buhari’s right-hand man. He was giving out his daughter in marriage in Birnin-Kudu. So, I had to give him his dues.”
On Atiku’s visit, Lamido denied that he was fraternizing with members of the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC).
He explained: “Atiku came here to attend a function of his own party man, and, of course, I received him. He is a party man. I come from the PDP; he said leave PDP and join APC. I said “No, I am not going.” Here is a party man who is giving his daughter’s hand out in marriage. He invited me to come. Now, he was Nigeria’s Vice-President; he is not an ordinary man. I must give him all the dues that he deserves. When they came, I gave them an accommodation. The following day he went to
Hadeja and attended the ceremony of his party man with his party people and came back. Then I took him back to the airport.”
Commenting on the renewed spate of bombings by the Boko Haram sect, Lamido said the situation was worrisome.
“I am deeply worried. All of us should be worried. Because there is no way one can justify the crises. It is like we are under siege if we are not free from fear. We are talking about our own freedom, freedom from fear.
“The most fundamental of all freedoms is to be free from fear so that we can go anywhere with your life not being threatened. The bombings I have said are evil. The bombing is evil. It should be a source of concern to all of us, because no one is safe.”