There is no let-up yet in the crisis engulfing the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as former Jigawa State Governor and party stalwart Sule Lamido, is threatening a legal showdown if he is not allowed to purchase nomination forms to contest the position of the party’s National Chairman .
The PDP’s elective national convention is scheduled to hold from the 15th to the 16th November in Ibadan, Oyo State.
Lamido issued the threat in Abuja on Monday as he said his efforts to obtain the nomination forms at the PDP National Secretariat were unsuccessful. He accused key party officials, including National Secretary Senator Samuel Anyanwu and National Organising Secretary Umaru Bature, of complicity in the matter.
Arriving at the PDP headquarters, Wadata Plaza, around 11 a.m. with his supporters, Lamido was met with closed offices and no officials available to sell him the nomination form.
He said the Organising Secretary’s office , traditionally responsible for the sale of such forms , was “officially locked,” preventing access.
“I came to buy the form as required by the party’s constitution, but to my surprise, the offices were shut. Both the Secretary and Organising Secretary claimed they had no knowledge of where the forms were or how they were being distributed,” Lamido said.
He said that he found it strange that even senior officers of the party were unable to access their own offices.
Lamido’s frustration comes amid tensions surrounding the PDP’s zoning arrangements ahead of its 2027 presidential ticket.
At the party’s 102nd National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting held on 25 August, the PDP resolved to zone the presidential ticket to the South, while the National Chairmanship was reserved for the North.
Subsequently, Northern leaders micro-zoned the chairmanship to the North-West and, over the weekend, endorsed former Minister of Special Duties, Tanimu Turaki (SAN), as a consensus candidate.
But Lamido and several northern stakeholders loyal to him have rejected the endorsement, insisting that they were excluded from the decision-making process.
“The North-West never met. We were supposed to hold a meeting on Wednesday, but before that could happen, another meeting was hurriedly convened on Tuesday to pre-empt ours. Consensus can only emerge through consultation, not imposition,” Lamido said.