Former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, has disclosed details of a strategic alliance with former Jigawa State Governor, Sule Lamido, aimed at thwarting the re-election bid of former President Goodluck Jonathan in 2015. Amaechi made the revelation during a book launch hosted by Lamido, shedding light on their political collaboration and subsequent divergence.
Amaechi, who, like Lamido, was a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) prior to the 2015 general elections, recounted their initial political alignment. He stated that he had initially perceived Lamido as sharing his own radical political stance. “At the beginning of my friendship with Lamido, I made the mistake of assuming that he was as radical as I was,” Amaechi said.
However, the relationship was marked by periods of disagreement, culminating in a significant rift during the lead-up to the 2015 presidential election. Amaechi revealed that a coalition of governors, including himself and Lamido, had convened to strategize against Jonathan’s re-election.
“We had our bad times that we disagreed… The last one before we broke ranks was that we agreed, all of us agreed to go against President Goodluck Jonathan,” Amaechi stated. “And we formed a committee, governors and all that.”
A pivotal point of contention arose when Lamido proposed the formation of a new political party, the Social Democratic Party (SDP), as a vehicle to challenge Jonathan. Amaechi expressed his disagreement with this strategy, asserting that it would lead to electoral defeat. “At the end of the day, he (Lamido) was to find a new party called the SDP. We said if we go to the new party, we would lose elections,” he explained.
Amaechi subsequently defected from the PDP to the All Progressives Congress (APC), which ultimately secured victory in the presidential election with Muhammadu Buhari as its candidate. Lamido remained within the PDP.
The former minister’s revelations offer a glimpse into the intricate political maneuvering that characterized the 2015 electoral cycle and highlight the strategic considerations that shaped the outcome of the election.
