Indications that Governor Sule Lamido of Jigawa State will after all slug it out with President Goodluck Jonathan, at the primaries for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential ticket further emerged yesterday, following an open rejection of Jonathan’s endorsement by the party in the North-West zone. The party held its zonal stakeholders’ meeting in Kaduna at the weekend, where they endorsed Jonathan for next year’s election, as part of the resolutions reached at the parley. Although, Lamido was not in Kaduna for the meeting, he was represented by his deputy, Alhaji Ahmed Mahmoud.

It was, however, gathered that once the resolution pertaining to the endorsement, which was the last item on the list of 25 resolutions came up, the meeting was disrupted, as the hall became “a noisy arena with party faithful opposing it,” insisting that the decision was not unanimous.

In order to further press home their opposition to Jonathan’s approval, Governor Lamido yesterday again said the endorsement as the party’s 2015 presidential flagbearer was “undemocratic and totally wrong.”

Addressing a press conference in Dutse, the Jigawa State capital, Deputy Governor Mahmoud said the endorsement does not meet the collective agreement of the party members and indeed, the constitution of the party.

According to him, the state government and the entire members of the party in the state, reject such deal, as it was done without their consent and they would never be blind to support it. He said the government and people of Jigawa had in 2011 supported Jonathan’s bid, which resulted in their being castigated by other northerners and in the end, the President and the Federal Government failed to fulfil their campaign promises to the people of the state.

“The endorsement of Jonathan as the party’s presidential flagbearer is wrong and we hereby disassociate the government, and the people of the state from such undemocratic act.

“We, in Jigawa, were not part of the decision taken by the PDP to endorse President Jonathan as its presidential flagbearer in 2015, and this has clearly embarrassed us as PDP members as well as people of the state,” the deputy governor declared.

Reacting to the development, the North-West Vice Chairman of the party, Amb. Ibrahim Musa Kazaure, who hails from Jigawa, and who also attended the Kaduna zonal meeting last Sunday, said: “Lamido has a right to voice his opposition to any decision of the party that does not tally with his position.”

•Adapted from a Daily Sun report. Photo shows President Jonathan.