Sule Lamido

Governor Sule Lamido of Jigawa state was conspicuously absent at the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governors’ Forum on Wednesday which endorsed President Goodluck Jonathan as sole candidate of the party.

The party had fixed 6 December for the presidential primaries for 2015 general elections. In all intents and purposes, the event will be a mere coronation of President Jonathan,

Lamido had expressed interest to challenge Jonathan for the party’s ticket, to the displeasure of party stakeholders.

So far, he has not said he is no longer interested.

The deputy governor of the state was however part of the meeting, held in Abuja ahead of the PDP National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting today.

Chairman of the forum and Governor of Akwa Ibom, Chief Godswill Akpabio, announced the decision at the end of its ‎three hours meeting.

The party’s NEC is expected to adopt the resolution of the governors at the meeting.

“‎ The PDP governors’ forum hereby endorses President Goodluck Jonathan for a second term in office and resolved to support his bid for re-election come 2015. We urge all PDP faithful to support this gesture which should enable the president to become the sole candidate‎ of the PDP come 2015,” he said.

He commended efforts of the Armed Forces in fighting insurgency in the North East and urged Nigerians and the international community to continue to cooperate with the Federal Government.

This, according to him, is critical to stamp out terrorism in the country.

On the Ebola virus outbreak in the country, the governors commended the success recorded by the ministries of health nationwide.

The forum thanked Nigerians for rallying round the leadership of the country and appealed to people to sustain such efforts.

The forum applauded the decision of the PDP candidate, Sen. Iyiola Omisore, at the recent Osun governorship election and all PDP faithful who had chosen to pursue their rights through the law courts.

It also commended PDP faithful‎ in Adamawa for the peaceful conduct of the state primaries ahead of the Oct. 11 governorship election.

It congratulated the state acting Governor, Alhaji Ahmadu Fintiri, for emerging as the party`s candidate at the primaries and urged Adamawa people to give him their mandate at the election.

The governors of Enugu, Delta, Plateau, Adamawa, Sokoto deputy, Jigawa deputy, Abia, Taraba, Gombe, Bayelsa, kogi, Kaduna, Kebbi, Niger, Akwa Ibom, Cross River and Benue states were present at the meeting