Former Jigawa State governor, Alhaji Sule Lamido, has declared that he holds no grudge against anybody or institution following his five-day remand in Kano and Kuje prisons on the orders of a Federal High Court.
The former governor made the assertion during a chart with reporters in his Kano home, following his return from Abuja via the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano yesterday.
The former governor and his two sons Aminu and Mustapha alighted from their charted flight at about 1.30p.m and were received by hundreds of supporters and relatives.
“If you want to serve your people, if you want to serve your country, you will face some consequences and this is one of them,” he emphasized.
The former governor described his travail as one of those hazards of leadership, adding that this is not the first time that he was being incarcerated.
On his experience in prison, he said: “There is no way I can begin to tell you about my experience in detention: I cannot share it with you. If you want to know it then you go there and experience it. It is something like hunger that cannot be shared.”
He expressed gratitude to Allah for reclaiming his freedom. He said: “The bail is, to me, more important because of the calibre of the bail. The bail was based on my own personality as Sule Lamido and that I find extremely comforting, very comforting. Despite the maze.”
It recognizes that some people might have earned their reputation and cannot simply renounce their history. “If you are dealing with human institutions, you don’t look for perfection.”
Human institutions are never perfect – whether they are media institutions, cultural or political institutions. All human institutions have their levels of imperfections.”
He was at ease with the different opinions generated by his arraignment and felt that the people had a right to their opinions in a democracy.
“Wherever you are on this divide: whether you are for or against, whether you believe in my innocence or you believe that I am corrupt, whether you believe I am guilty or not guilty, whether you believe that I am bad or not bad, I fairly believe it is your own right. It is your own right to take a position which you think fits into your own political interest and interpretation,” he said.
Lamido and his two sons –Aminu and Mustapha -were penultimate Thursday remanded in Kano Central Prisons by Justice Evelyn Anyadike, after they were arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on 28-count charge bordering on money laundering and abuse of office.
