 Lamido became a member of the PDP.He ran for Governor of Jigawa State in the 1999 elections at the start of the Nigerian Fourth Republic, but was narrowly defeated by the All People's Party (APP) candidate Ibrahim Saminu Turaki.President Olusegun Obasanjo appointed Lamido Foreign Minister in June 1999, causing friction with Lamido's patron Abubakar Rimi who had been turned down as Obasanjo's Vice-Presidential partner and was lobbying for the Foreign Minister job.