Sam Amadi: Sule Lamido vowed to go into exile if Obi got 1m votes in 2023 polls

Sam Amadi, former chairman of the National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), says Sule Lamido once boasted that Peter Obi was not going to secure one million votes in the 2023 election.

Amadi said Lamido, former governor of Jigawa, vowed to go into exile if Obi, presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the election, secured up to a million votes.

Obi would go on to poll more than six million votes in the election.

The former NERC boss said Lamido made the remark during a strategy session for Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 election.

Amadi made the post via X with a picture showing Obi and Lamido shaking hands, with broad smiles to boot.

“Politics can be morbid; it can also be lighthearted. I toast to this friendship. I remember during the strategy session for Atiku I argued that @PeterObi should be taken seriously as he has mobilized the youths. Gov Lamido boasted that if Peter gets 1m votes he would go on exile,” Amadi wrote.

Bola Tinubu of the All Progressive Congress (APC) won the presidential election with 8,794,726 votes; Abubakar came second with 6,984,520 votes; while Obi polled third with 6,101,533 votes.

Lamido was governor of Jigawa from 2007 to 2015.

A POLITICAL VISIT

On Monday, Obi paid a visit to Lamido at his Abuja residence. Earlier, the former Anambra governor had visited Abubakar.

The visits renewed speculations on whether the opposition leaders will form a coalition for the 2027 election, in another bid to unseat the ruling APC.

In the buildup to the 2023 election, Obi left the PDP for the LP.

In 2015, Obi was Abubakar’s running mate on the PDP platform.