Senator Ibrahim Lamido’s journey in Sokoto politics began when he was elected to represent Sokoto East Senatorial District in the 10th Assembly under the All Progressives Congress (APC). Until 2021 when he began to show interest in politics and pitched his camp with Senator Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko’s political empire in Sokoto State, the 44-year old Lamido was never known in the political arena of Isa Local Government where he hails from, not to talk of his senatorial district or the state at large.
Lamido’s wise decision to identify with Senator Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko (Sarkin Yamman Sokoto) was not far-fetched in view of Wamakko’s enduring popularity and stronghold in the politics of the state. So when the young Lamido, a federal civil servant whom I consider without any fear of contradiction, in the political landscape of Sokoto State as a mediocre, in terms of experience and popularity made foray into partisan politics, he was quite certain that, his political aspiration will be accomplished through the formidable political structure and massive followership of Sen. Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko.
There is no doubt, the exuberant Lamido and his high-spirited political ambition to vie for elective position was reinforced by his conviction that, apart from having the financial wherewithal to navigate through the turbulent waters of electioneering process, he must however require a formidable political structure to muscle his victory for election. This was even more evident with the incumbent political weight of the opponent he was to contend with at the party primaries and the election proper. Formidable political structures are no doubt the only veritable tool that most money bags like Lamido relies upon to win election. These political structures did not emerge overnight, it took years of service to humanity, investment in human and capital development, community service and so many sacrifices made to people and the society, to come into being.
The long friendship tie between Senator Lamido and Governor Ahmed Aliyu put the former at a good advantage to easily get the buy-in and acceptance of Senator Wamakko who had to grapple with the internal challenge of turning down the re-election ambition of Senator Ibrahim Abdullahi Gobir (Sardaunan Gobir) who was the then incumbent Senator of the zone Lamido represents at the moment. This was therefore, the turning point of the political marriage between Lamido who ventured into politics for the first time with zero political experience and structure, with Senator Wamakko who is undoubtedly accepted as a revered political mogul and kingmaker of the present Sokoto politics.
Today, all have been history, despite high political unpopularity and vehement rejection from party stakeholders and stalwarts of his political zone, Senator Wamakko stood his ground and facilitated the emergence of Lamido, who against all odds became the anointed candidate for the position of Senator representing Sokoto East Senatorial District and worked assiduously and ensured he won election under the platform of APC during the 2023 general elections. Disappointingly, with less than one and half years away from the inauguration of Senator Ibrahim Lamido as a member of the 10th Assembly, Lamido is currently at the center of a storm within the Sokoto State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC). The crisis pits him against Senator Aliyu Wamakko, with Lamido vying for control of the party. This power struggle was orchestrated by those behind Lamido which was deliberate and meant to cause a deep division, and splitting the party into two factions in the state. It was strongly believed that Sen. Ibrahim Lamido is acting on a script given to him to pay Wamakko back by those who have fallen out with Wamakko in the politics of National Assembly who saw a good opportunity in this political amateur and back-stabber in the person of Lamido to provoke the APC leader and destabilize the party in the State.
The disagreement between Senators Wamakko and Lamido was allegedly and reportedly fueled by some leaders of the 10th Senate and was not unconnected to the support given to Sen. Abdul-Azeez Yari by Sen. Wamakko who contested against Sen. Godswill Akpabio for the position of the Senate President. Senator Ibrahim Lamido whom we all believe, without the support Wamakko as the APC leader in Sokoto State would not have won the election on his own, decided to go against the collective position of northern senators’ interest in which Wamakko was at the fore-front. Sen. Lamido went against the interest of Wamakko as his leader and supported the emergence of Senator Godswill Akpabio as the Senate President of the 10th Assembly. This act of disloyalty and back-stabbing by Lamido was the beginning of his differences with Wamakko. There could be other accusations, but it’s unclear what specifically sparked this crisis which I see as a mere “tea-cup storm,” which political analysts like me feel will fizzle out overtime, even though, it’s evident that the premeditated political crisis within the APC in Sokoto State is complex and multifaceted.
The young Senator would have seized the rare opportunity God bestowed on him to study the intrigues and intricacies of politics to which he is an amateur and concentrate on his primary task of legislation so he could make meaningful contributions amongst his peers at the red champer. The recent annual performance report of the senate captured the name of Lamido as one of the few Senators that have never sponsored any bill on behalf of either their primary constituents or the larger Nigerian constituent. This is even more embarrassing considering the numerous socio-economic challenges his constituency is facing at the moment. Lamido is just a bench-warmer who has never even seconded any meaningful motion from his colleagues, he rather chose to be an onlooker where voicing out is the norm and business of the game. This is quite unfortunate considering the importance of his position to nation building and development.
Ultimately, the outcome of the opposition from the camp of Sen. Lamido will depend on Lamido’s capacity to navigate the intricate web of Sokoto politics and Wamakko’s political sagacity and dominance. A lot of spectators see the internal power struggles within the APC in which Lamido was instrumental as negatively affecting his chances of success and political career. There is no doubt that, Senator Wamakko, a former governor of the state, is considered the undisputed leader of the APC in Sokoto and a political godfather to Governor Ahmed Aliyu Sokoto and all other national and state assembly members elected under the APC. Senator Ibrahim Lamido is not an exception.
From all indication, this battle which extends beyond internal rivalry within the APC in the state to a struggle over control of state resources and governance. Even though, Senator Lamido believes it’s time to politically dislodge Wamakko in his wildest imagination, anyone who keenly follows Sokoto politics definitely knows that Senator Wamakko has had the upper hand for years. Even attempt to dislodge Wamakko as the leader of APC in Sokoto State by more stronger forces like the former Minister of Justice & Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, SAN, the most influential and christened “Prime Minister” under President Muhammadu regime could not see the light of the day. The very reason why Malami wanted to take over the party from Wamakko was to put a clog in the wheel of progress in Asiwaju’s 2023 presidential candidature under the APC platform, knowing fully of the Wamakko’s long-standing relationship with Asiwaju which started in the 70’s when Wamakko was a young graduate student going to Pittsburgh USA passing through Lagos to take a flight. Senator Wamakko a true believer of Asiwaju project, was among the ten leaders of the North, among which are notably Governors in 2022 that insisted that power be moved to the South in order to ensure equity, fairness, and unity of this nation. We could all recall with nostalgia how that attempt by Malami ended up as a mere power play and Wamakko came out stronger, putting firm grip on his party and anointing Ahmed Aliyu as his governorship candidate that overwhelmingly won at the gubernatorial primary and general election in 2023.
The Lamido faction, which seems to be frustrated with what it perceives as Wamakko’s undue influence, has of recent through Hon. Sani Yakubu Gudu, a member representing Gudu/Tangaza in the House of Representatives come out to tell the world that they were prepared to form a parallel APC structure in the State. Hon. Sani Yakubu Gudu, Lamido’s newly found ally emphasized their determination to open a parallel party office in the state. However, Alhaji Isa Sadiq Achida, Chairman of Sokoto’s APC, rebuffed these accusations as “the desperate actions of political losers,” dismissing the claims as attempts by out-of-favour politicians to stir up confusion. “They have lost relevance in Sokoto politics and want to create division, but they will not succeed,” Achida asserted. The Sokoto APC leadership insists the party remains unified.
Other factional allies of Senator Lamido, include Hon. Isah Bello Ambarura a member representing Illela/Gwadabawa in the House of Representatives and former Party Chairman and Caretaker Committee Chairman, Goronyo Local Government, Alh. Kabiru Sarkin Fulani. Senator Wamakko has been their benefactor and has positively touched their lives from 2007 when he bacame the Governor of Sokoto to date. Their success and accomplishments in politics are associated with Wamakko’s benevolence towards them. It is quite unimaginable that these group of remorseless political god-sons of Sen. Wamakko are now claiming to be worried by the Wammako’s overbearing influence and penchant for having everybody kowtow to his whims and caprices as the reasons for the current crisis in the party and the genesis of their disobedience and disloyalty to their hitherto political god-father and the APC leader in Sokoto State.
We have also of recent witnessed an array of resignation letters trending in the social media from certain Local Government APC Executive Committee members and State public servants of Sokoto East Senatorial District extraction which has been so packaged and dramatized to portray their unalloyed loyalty to Sen. Ibrahim Lamido perceived faction. The intention of these unwarranted and premeditated resignations was to deceive the unsuspecting public about the impending leadership tussle in Sokoto APC which was only the pigment of imagination of Lamido’s recruited “toothless dogs” which APC family loyal to Wamakko do not see as posing any threat to the Sokoto main APC under the indefatigable leadership of Sen. Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko, which is the only recognized indivisible APC leadership in Sokoto State.
Also, the recent resignation of some village heads from Sabon Birni only attested to the accusation of their visible involvement into partisan politics. They were alleged to have campaigned for the opposition PDP during the last gubernatorial election,and perhaps in the fear of disciplinary action by their local authorities, they decided to resign expressed their support to Lamido who will see that an opportunity to further expand his scope of recruitment of PDP stalwarts in line with his strategy to create a landing space when the battle finally chases him out of the APC.However, observers do not see the action of the village heads posing any political threat to the Magatakarda camp considering their act of sabotage did not stop APC from winning Sabon Birni LGA during the last election.
Even though, Sen. Ibrahim Lamido, Hon. Sani Yakubu Gudu and Hon. Isah Bello Ambarura never doubted the political relevance of Senator Wamakko, but are however, of the view that now that, they should be allowed to breathe because they are tired of Wamakko’s domineering tendencies. These new-born again politicians now want to assert their independence and stop taking directives from the APC leader anymore. According to them, “Wamakko’s private residence is now the party secretariat where the APC chairman dictates the affairs of the party. Since Senator Lamido refused to hold his activities in Wamakko’s residence, he has been seen as an outcast who must be excommunicated from happenings within the party”. It is very laughable that, when they were desperately looking and seeking for Wamakko’s endorsement and support to stand for election, they been seen times without number at Wamakko’s residence attending political meetings and leveraging on his popularity and dominance to realize their political aspirations.
Senator Wamakko’s undoing and costly mistake politically, was bringing an unknown new breed politician in the person of Sen. Lamido whose antecedents and character were not properly examined, a total stranger who has never been tested on the basis of trustworthiness, competence and capacity and unconsciously catapulted into the hallowed red chamber. This I believe was what inflated his ego and was misled into believing that he has the audacity to challenge a seasoned technocrat, a retired Permanent Secretary, two-times Deputy Governor, two-times Governor, three-times Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and political god-father and juggernaut of Sokoto politics, having supported or even sponsored two Sokoto State Governors, several Distinguished Senators, House of Representatives and State Assembly members to victory.
I will say it here once again, without any fear of contradiction that, none of these rebellious members of the House of Representatives and their newly anointed leader, Sen. Lamido who now pitched tent against Wamakko had the capacity to win election independently, without Wamakko’s political grassroot support and structures which they rode on to success. There is therefore, nothing for Wamakko camp to be jittery about Senator Lamido’s self-acclaimed political relevance in the state simply because of his over bloated activities ranging from youth and women empowerment, welfare interventions, local and foreign scholarships for students within his senatorial district. For the past 9 years that Sen. Wamakko has been in the senate, his philanthropic disposition and nature in the form of various welfare interventions, empowerment programs and local and foreign scholarships awards across the state have been unprecedented in the history of political office holders’ contribution to the well-being of the electorates and citizenry in Sokoto State.
The real APC under the leadership of Sen. Wamakko are not unaware of the fact that, members of opposition parties, particularly the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are now aligning with disgruntled Lamido and engaging in anti-party activities against the APC. We are also aware of Lamido’s romance and marriage of convenience with PDP stalwarts and how they are making frantic effort to reverse the gains and progress made by the APC in the state as he and his co-travelers continue to weigh and explore other options, one of which is nursing the option of exiting the party in the event that, they have totally fallen out with the recognized APC structure in the state, which has always, come rain, come sunshine reiterated its unflinching loyalty to Sen. Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko.
To the doubting Thomases over who hold sway of Sokoto politics and holds influence with the Jagaba, the recent cabinet reshuffle by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu where the two trusted and tested political associates of Distinguished Senator Aliyu Magatarda Wamakko in the personalities of Alh. Muhammad Maigari Dingyadi and Barister Bello Mohammed Goronyo were appointed and retained as Minister of Labour and Productivity and Minister of State for Works respectively, has laid to rest their speculation.
Bashar Ahmad Gobir writes from Sabon Birni Local Government of Sokoto State.
