By Ishaya Ibrahim
Acting News Editor
Former governor of Jigawa State, Sule Lamido, literally shutdown the state capital on Tuesday March 13, 2018, in a rally to test his popularity for the 2019 presidential poll.
Lamido is angling for President Muhammadu Buhari’s job in 2019. Both men are from the North West, the region that holds the biggest electoral votes in Nigeria.
At the rally, attended by Peoples Democratic Party’s national chairman, Prince Uche Secondus, and members of his National Working Committee, the crowd chanted the praise of Lamido, saying, ‘‘The solution to the snake that swallows Nigeria’s money has arrived.’’
The crowd, which surged around the state party’s secretariat, stretched beyond two kilometres, with many unable to catch a glimpse of Lamido.
The rally, TheNiche gathered, was to establish the popularity of the PDP in the North West, President Muhammadu Buhari’s stronghold. He got more than 800,000 votes in Jigawa in 2015.
Analysts predict that the situation might be different for Buhari in 2019 because his challenger may likely be a northerner from the North West who will split the vote in the region. And without a bloc vote for Buhari in the North West, the election might be too close to call, analysts say.
