Former Jigawa State Governor, Sule Lamido, has revealed that the late Chief Bola Ige once openly expressed distrust towards northern members of the early pro-democracy movement that eventually formed the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Lamido made the revelation in his autobiography, Being True to Myself, unveiled on May 13. In Chapter Eight of the book, he recounts a tense exchange that occurred during a strategy meeting of the original nine founding members of what became the PDP, commonly known as the G9.
The meeting, held at 9 Raymond Njoku Street in Ikoyi, Lagos, included notable figures such as former Vice President Alex Ekwueme, Bola Ige, Senator Francis Ellah, ex-CBN Governor Adamu Ciroma, Solomon Lar, Professor Jerry Gana, Abubakar Rimi, former Senate President Iyiochia Ayu, and Lamido himself.
According to Lamido, during the meeting, while Professor Gana was making a point, Bola Ige interrupted to challenge the sincerity of the northern members of the group.
“Bola Ige said, ‘Sule, before we proceed, let me be frank. Rimi is my friend, so is Adamu Ciroma. But based on recent history, the North often acts as a bloc with its own agenda. I don’t trust you. I believe you’re trying to use us to build a moral force for a cause that serves your hidden interests,’” Lamido recalled.
Ige went further, asking the northern members to prove their commitment by forming a pressure group in the North to oppose General Sani Abacha’s regime directly.
Lamido said he acknowledged Ige’s concerns and admitted that from the perspective of other regions, Abacha was seen as a symbol of northern dominance. To challenge this perception, Lamido and other northern members took Ige’s advice seriously.
“We went back to the North and convened a separate meeting aimed at forming a regional resistance against the Abacha regime,” Lamido explained.
That meeting brought together individuals from various ideological backgrounds, including Dr. Usman Bugaje, a university lecturer with ties to the late General Shehu Yar’Adua, radical retired Colonel Dangiwa Umar, and former Kaduna State Governor Balarabe Musa. However, Lamido noted that both Balarabe Musa and Chief Sunday Awoniyi declined to join the initiative.
The account offers rare insight into the internal dynamics and regional tensions within Nigeria’s early pro-democracy movements during the military era.
