Former Jigawa State Governor Sule Lamido has revealed the incident that triggered a rift between the late President Umaru Musa Yar’adua and his predecessor, Olusegun Obasanjo, describing both former leaders as stubborn, though in different ways.
Lamido made the revelation in his newly released autobiography, Being True to Myself. In a section titled “My Relationship with Yar’adua” under the chapter dedicated to the Yar’adua presidency, Lamido recounted how a memo on the 2007 presidential election, presented by the late president to the National Council of State, sparked tensions between the two men.
The 2007 presidential election is widely regarded as one of the most flawed and opaque in the country’s history, with official final results still not publicly available 18 years later. The poll was even described as flawed by its major beneficiary, Yar’adua, who subsequently initiated electoral reforms before his death on 5 May 2010.
“As a governor, my relationship with Yar’adua as the president was very warm and friendly. I personally saw in Yar’adua a new beacon of hope in the emerging new Nigerian generation. He was very courageous in his approach to governance and was willing to take bold steps to introduce reforms towards good governance. One of such bold efforts was his desire to reform our electoral system. Yar’adua could also be described as stubborn; stubborn in the mould of Obasanjo, but in a different way,” Lamido recalled.
The controversial memo that sparked fallout
He wrote that “Yar’adua’s stubbornness manifested at our first National Council of State meeting with him as president. For those not familiar with the composition of the National Council of State, it is made up of the President and the Vice President, all state governors, former heads of state, and serving and former chief justices of the Federation, with the incumbent president as chairman. The first memo to be presented at that Council of State meeting by President Yar’adua was on electoral reforms.
“In the morning, before the council meeting, I went to the president’s office and asked him whether he had read the memo he is presenting to the council. He said, ‘Yes, Sule, I did.’ I said, ‘I suggest you read it again.’ He opened the file which contained the memo. ‘Yes, Sule, I have read it,’ he said. ‘Sir, have you noted the preamble, saying your election was characterised by “large-scale” irregularities? Sir, do you know the implication of this?’ ‘Yes’ was his reply. I said, ‘Sir, why don’t you rewrite it to “in view of the desire to reform our electoral system” rather than describing it as “irregular”? The way I see it, you are denouncing your own mandate by implication.’ But Yar’adua was unmoved.”
Lamido reflected on how he made further strenuous efforts to explain the gravity of presenting such a memo before the council. He said he told Yar’adua, “Sir, in the Council you are going to chair, President Obasanjo, who conducted your election, is there; the Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN Katsina-Alu, who cast the winning vote, the tie-breaker, to uphold your election at the Supreme Court, is there; and yet you described the election as massively irregular? What do you think of their honour and integrity?”
Again, Yar’adua remained unfazed, which led Lamido to leave the president’s office “in utter bewilderment and more confused”, though not before telling him, “If your election was irregular, mine was free, fair and transparent.”
He continued: “When the Council convened, President Yar’adua read the memo, describing his own election as being ‘massively irregular’. I looked across the Council and observed the utter shock and bewilderment of President Obasanjo and Justice Katsina-Alu. I turned my gaze to President Yar’adua, who appeared unconcerned and totally indifferent to the thick atmosphere in the Council. I think that memo may have been the linchpin in the rift that blew open between President Obasanjo and President Yar’adua.”
‘What Yar’adua told me when I begged him not to fight Obasanjo’
He said he later met with Yar’adua and pleaded with him not to go to war with Obasanjo.
“I was ushered into his office and offered the normal courtesies. He looked at me and said, ‘Sule, what is agitating you?’ Almost going down on my knees, consumed by emotions, I said, ‘Sir, In the name of God, please, I beg you, do not fight Obasanjo. You are coming from a very strong, powerful, political and moral background. It is neither in our religion nor culture to show ingratitude to those who have been with you in your hour of need and who stood against all forces to ensure you attained this very office you are in.’ Noting my deep emotions, he said, ‘Sule, calm down and sit down.’ He picked up his intercom and summoned his ADC, Lt Col Mustapha.
“When the ADC entered, the president asked him point blank, ‘ADC, what were my instructions to you with respect to Obasanjo?’ The ADC replied, ‘Sir, you asked me to accede to any demand he might make on any issue, either within or outside Nigeria, including his travels, without recourse to you.’ President Yar’adua then turned to me and said, ‘Sule, are you comforted now?’ I said, ‘Yes, Sir,’ and bade him farewell. I left Abuja and returned to Dutse, my state capital. My relationship with Yar’adua, from then on, was neither cosy nor uneasy, but strictly formal,” he recalled.
‘Probe of N16m power project further strained their relationship’
Lamido went on to support his view with two more examples.
“The first was the debate raging in the National Assembly (NASS) on the $16m National Independent Power Project (NIPP). If the debate in the House of Representatives was led by a member of the opposition, that could be understood, but it was led by a very prominent PDP member and a close ally of President Yar’adua from Katsina State. The impression being given to Nigerians in that debate was that Obasanjo stole the $16m and the projects were abandoned. Of course, later events proved otherwise. I went to President Yar’adua and drew his attention to the debate in the House of Representatives on the power issue. His tart response to me was, ‘It is an issue being discussed by an independent arm of government.’”
He added: “The second instance affected me more personally when his Chief Security Officer, Tilde, called me while I was in my office in Dutse. On answering the call, CSO Tilde asked me where I was. I answered him casually that I was in my ‘village capital’, Dutse. To my shock and utter disbelief, he said, ‘I thought you were in Ota with your president.’”
Obasanjo had relocated to Ota in Ogun State after leaving office.
Lamido wrote that he was momentarily numbed by the CSO’s words, but when he regained composure, he unleashed “all of the insults I could muster” on him and threatened to report him to Yar’adua.
“Perhaps to calm me down, he said, ‘Sorry, Sir, I just called to inform you that we have received a petition against you addressed to the President, and I am in a position to suppress it.’ Not ready to mellow down, I retorted, ‘Who do you think you can blackmail? Go to hell!’ With hindsight, I believe it must have been Mohammed Ali Ringim’s petition.
“The following day I took off to Abuja and went straight to the Villa. For those who are familiar with the President’s office, the office of the CSO is right by the side of the security personnel manning the entrance. I stormed into his office and showed him the furious side of me. I told him flatly that I did not know that the presidency had been so diminished and reduced to a centre of gossip and mischief-making. I told Tilde, to the hearing of everybody who was there, that Umaru, his boss, in that office upstairs, would not have been the president if not because of Obasanjo. I think this was the incident President Obasanjo made reference to in his My Watch Volume III, pages 49 to 50,” Lamido wrote. (Daily trust)
