Former Jigawa State Governor, Alhaji Sule Lamido, has described his Supreme Court victory over the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as a "painful victory" that exposes deep fractures within the party he helped build. Though the court ruled in his favor regarding the disputed 2025 national convention, Lamido refused to celebrate, warning that the party has been badly weakened and divided by the very actors who drove the Ibadan convention that excluded him from the National Chairmanship race.
Lamido approached the court after he was denied nomination forms and after the party proceeded with the convention in defiance of a court order. That convention produced Kabiru Tanimu Turaki (SAN) as chairman, but the Supreme Court nullified the outcome in April 2026. However, rather than celebrating, Lamido expressed anguish that the same political heavyweights—particularly state governors who backed the Ibadan convention and Turaki's emergence—have since abandoned him and the PDP and defected to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), leaving behind a fractured and weakened opposition.
Party Elite Accused of Turning Family Institution Into Battlefield
Lamido accused the party elite of turning a family institution into a battlefield driven by ego and ambition. He warned that the PDP is being hollowed out from within as its leadership and power brokers drift away after fueling internal conflict. The former minister of foreign affairs also took a swipe at national governance, lamenting that Nigeria's system is increasingly being reduced to short-term palliatives while deeper challenges such as insecurity, poverty, and widening social division are ignored.
"Politics today has become too trivial. Meanwhile, insecurity, poverty, and division are ignored. Governance has been reduced to palliatives," Lamido said, adding that such an approach is comparable to "treating a critically ill patient with painkillers instead of curing the disease." He insisted that national priorities have been distorted, with political actors more focused on court cases, party supremacy battles, and defections than on addressing Nigeria's deepening socio-economic crisis.
Call for Unity and Focus on Real Issues
Lamido maintained that both ruling and opposition elites share responsibility for the current state of affairs, warning that Nigeria risks long-term instability if governance continues to prioritize short-term relief over sustainable reforms. "If we truly care about Nigeria, we must first unite to solve security, poverty, and division. Then we can talk about politics and power," he said.
While reaffirming that the PDP remains Nigeria's most enduring political structure, Lamido insisted that no court victory can compensate for the collapse of trust, unity, and ideological discipline within the party. He stressed that what is left is a "victory that has injured the victor and weakened the house itself."
"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 for and toiled for. I don't see why we should even fight in the first instance over positions, over leadership," Lamido said.
Vision for Party Rebuilding
Lamido outlined his vision for the party, saying, "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." He noted that many people in APC are willing to return to PDP but need assurance of a strong and protective party.
"What pains me most is that those who created this problem have abandoned PDP. The same people who led the convention, who were supposed to anchor the party, have left. They are now freelancing, meeting other political parties. Is that fair?" he asked.
Lamido described the victory as costly, saying, "It is victory, yes, but the cost is enormous. The cost to party cohesion, to unity, is too much. It is a painful victory because it has deepened division. It should not have been like this." He emphasized that political solutions are needed alongside legal ones, and called for forgiveness and unity: "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."
