Jigawa PDP says Sule Lamido has not endorsed Tinubu, rejects claim attributed to Vice-President Shettima

The Peoples Democratic Party in Jigawa State has dismissed a claim that former governor Sule Lamido has endorsed President Bola Tinubu for re-election in 2027, saying he has made no such declaration, according to ThisDay and Naija News.

The claim was attributed to Vice-President Kashim Shettima at the APC presidential campaign rally in Dutse, the Jigawa capital, on Tuesday. Naija News reports that a Facebook post by DCL Hausa quoted Shettima as saying prominent figures in Jigawa, including Lamido, were supporting the APC.

In a statement on Wednesday in Dutse, the state PDP Chairman, Babandi Ibrahim Gumel, called the claim unauthorised and false. "We wish to state unequivocally that Dr. Sule Lamido has never at any point endorsed President Bola Tinubu or the All Progressives Congress for 2027 or any other term," the statement said. It described Lamido as "an iconic leader of national stature" who is "neither a political lightweight, nor a politician who needs proxy spokespersons, political handlers or executive endorsements made on his behalf".

The party said Lamido, a former Governor of Jigawa State and former Minister of Foreign Affairs, was politically experienced and fully able to announce his decisions himself. "If Dr Sule Lamido ever decides to endorse President Bola Ahmed Tinubu or any candidate, he possesses the immense political courage, eloquence and personal authority to make that statement by himself, in his own voice and in his own words," it said.

The statement recalled the 2013 to 2015 crisis in the PDP, when five governors elected on the party's platform defected to form the APC. Lamido, it noted, refused to join them and stayed in the PDP, which the party presented as proof of his consistency and loyalty to his convictions. It also traced his path from the People's Redemption Party to national prominence.

The Jigawa PDP said its structure in the state "remains entirely intact, formidable and unflinchingly loyal to Lamido", and that members were ready to follow whatever direction he announces. It urged Shettima and the APC leadership to stop attributing endorsements to him without his personal confirmation, and to focus on governance challenges instead of what it called manufactured political alignments.

Neither Shettima's office nor the APC had responded to the statement in the reports reviewed, and Lamido himself had not spoken. The original claim comes from a social media post quoting the vice-president, and the reports do not include a transcript of the remark.

Disputes over who supports whom are common during campaign season, because the backing of a respected elder can shift votes in a state. Until Lamido speaks for himself, the two sides will keep describing his position differently.