Former Jigawa State Governor Sule Lamido has firmly rejected a claim by Vice- President Kashim Shettima that he and other prominent politicians in the state are backing the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Lamido faulted the claim in a comment on a Facebook post by DCL Hausa, which posted a video of Shettima saying that prominent politicians in Jigawa, including the former governor, were supporting the APC.
The post carried the headline: 'All the prominent people of Jigawa State are with us, including Sule Lamido.'
Reacting, Lamido questioned why he would be associated with the APC, recalling that he did not support the party when it was formed in 2014. He wrote in Hausa: 'Ikon Allah. Ban yi APC a 2014 sai yanzu a 2026?' The statement roughly translates to: 'God is powerful. I was not with the APC in 2014, so why would I be with it now in 2026?'
Lamido also remarked that although the claim came from a Kanuri man, it was not surprising, before concluding with the Kanuri expression 'kattuwunum,' meaning 'a lie' or 'falsehood.'
His response appeared to reject Shettima's assertion that he was among the influential Jigawa politicians supporting the ruling party.
After the comment, the politician also shared a post of one his supporters denouncing Shettima's claim. He captioned the post: 'A loyalist of mine wrote this in my defence!'
Below is the post written by one Auwal Muhammed:
'There's No Ambiguity where Pragmatics Takes Charge: A Rejoinder to VP Kashim Shettima's Claim that Lamido is with Us. A clip making the rounds by His excellency vice president Kashim Shettima reveals how desperate and manipulative the APC led administration is.'
'In the video, his excellency Kashim Shettima was caught claiming that his excellency the former governor of Jigawa state Alh Dr Sule Lamido is with the APC, supporting the candidature of president Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Such statements reflect deep rooted political blackmail meant to use the likes of Sule Lamido in order to sell a political product resisted and rejected by the public.'
'Shettima's mention of Sule Lamido's name exposes a hidden motive of APC's led administration to deploy strategic rhetorical skills to win the heart of electorates by whatever means. Unfortunately, this type of rhetoric cannot go unchecked where historical antecedents of people like Sule Lamido serve a pragmatic function. Pragmatics will definitely say no to such accusations by making it bear its ipsedoxiticism. For one familiar with Lamido's political journey as well as history will outrightly reject such a political statement thereby dismissing it as political blackmail aimed at destroying Lamido's hard earned refutation of being a consistent politician who has never ever switched to any party. If his excellency Kashim Shettima has been conversant with Lamido's political dossier, he wouldn't have made such accusations. His excellency Kashim Shettima needs to understand that consistency for Lamido is non negotiable political ideology born out of the desire to uphold moral integrity even in the face of kikirraphophobia. While I dismissed Shettima's apolitical gesture, I would like to make the record clear that His excellency Sule Lamido is not in political tryst with any party. He is a PDP, remains in PDP and will campaign for the success of PDP from top to bottom.'
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