The Plot Against Namadi Sambo

Vice President Namadi Sambo

There is no doubt that the countdown to the 2015 election has begun and strident agitation has commenced not only for the office of president but also for the vice presidency, though the election is two years away and insecurity is at present stalking the land. Northern governors and leaders, in one breath, are canvassing a return of power to the North in 2015, trying to get President Jonathan out of the way, but in another breath, some of them are also positioning themselves to replace Vice President Namadi Sambo on the ticket with President Jonathan for the same election.

And speculations abound in some quarters that the presidency has made some promises to some of these power contenders in a bid to shore up support for President Jonathan in the North. But where are they getting this impression from, though truth is some are mounting political campaigns against Sambo.

The campaign being mounted by these politicians is reminiscent of similar moves in early 2002 to get former Vice President Atiku Abubakar dropped from the second term ticket of President Olusegun Obasanjo. When President Obasanjo declared his intention to contest for re-election in 2003 at the International Conference Centre Abuja, the then Vice President Atiku’s name and any reference to him as running mate were missing in the declaration programme. The hawks around the former president did not have their way as Atiku fought through and had to be carried along, lest he rocked the re-election boat for President Obasanjo.

At present and following newspaper reports, three different camps parading those rooting against Sambo have emerged. One group comprises some two governors from North-west and North-east who are running out their second terms in office and who are moving to replace Sambo, in the process portraying him as weak and incapable of pulling the North behind President Jonathan. In the second group are some Northern governors known to be in the race for the presidency but who, in the event they fail to bag the PDP ticket for the presidency, have their eyes on the veepee slot as Plan B.

The last group parades those opposed to Sambo from his Kaduna home-state because he declined to allow them present a Muslim candidate as governor (as opposed to late Governor Patrick Yakowa) following his emergence as vice-president in 2010. The modus operandi of the three camps seem to be the same: present Vee Pee Sambo as weak and incapable of moving the North behind Jonathan and present themselves or their sponsors as stronger candidates who hold all the aces and better positioned to deliver the North for the president in 2015.

In their virulent campaigns, some even embarked on a phony surveys like the one allegedly conducted by a group called Institute for Democracy and Good Governance, which was said to have thrown up the report that the North would not back President Jonathan if he retained Sambo as his running mate.

The bit that rankles is the attempt to present Sambo as weak and incapable of moving the North behind President Jonathan, in the process trying to create the impression he has not brought anything to the presidential ticket. Is the vice president a weak candidate incapable of helping the president? My answer is no.

In the build-up to the 2011 election when the pro-zoning orchestra was really on the rampage in the North, Sambo had stuck his neck for President Jonathan and has been steadfast in his support for him till date. According to his aides, so far the vice president has n’t buckled despite pressures on him to do so. Sambo’s loyalty to President Jonathan has never been in doubt. Also, as a former private sector player, Sambo is the one overseeing the Independent Power Projects and the country is making gradual but steady progress in that enterprise.

More importantly, however, those who should know say the fact that the vice president has remained modest, not presenting himself as over ambitious, not in any way moving to rock the boat have helped to not compound things for the president at a time there is restiveness in the North no thanks to the Boko Haram insurgency. There is nothing like any strain in the relationship between the president and vice president as witnessed not too long ago with its disastrous consequences on the affairs of the state.

Do they want Sambo to engage  in friction with his principal to demostrate he has political clout and in the process unnecessarily heat up the polity? Those plotting desperately to unseat Sambo should not create any such tension in the presidency for the country.

Source: This day