2015: SAMBO UNDER WATCH

There are indications that the crisis of confidence between President Goodluck Jonathan and his deputy, Vice President Namadi Sambo, may be getting worse by the day, even as some northern governors are now angling to replace the latter in 2015, should current plans by the president to re-contest stand.

This notwithstanding, the umbrella body for northern interest groups, Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), which is aware of the development, has warned that the vice president should not be subjected to any unfair treatment over any suspicion or political agenda.

Saturday Sun gathered that long before the recent Kaduna meeting between former President Olusegun Obasanjo and Sambo, which raised the political temperature in the Presidential Villa, the vice president has been having it rough due to suspicion that he may not support the return of Jonathan in 2015.

A highly placed source in the know disclosed: “The doubts over Sambo’s loyalty and commitment to the 2015 project led to a frosty relationship between him and the president. This has, to a large extent, affected the communication between the duo, official communication not exempted.

“An instance to buttress this is a situation where the vice president has told governors and others, who should direct certain letters to him on issues he should superintend over, to write directly to the president, rather than taking up such issues with the president for approval. Some of the governors who have had their memos returned can confirm this.

“The VP has learnt to do this because his advice or recommendations on issues are largely treated with suspicion, kept in view or totally ignored.”

As a result of the worsening rapport between the two most senior public office holders in the country, the vice president has, in the past six months, avoided speaking with friends, associates and some northern leaders on the telephone after some state agents loyal to him hinted that sophisticated monitoring equipment have been brought into the country and deployed within security and political circles.

“The VP will rather hold face to face discussions with his own people these days than having telephone conversations that can be twisted and misrepresented by overzealous security agents,” the source added.

With the obvious crack in the presidency, another source revealed that a popular northern governor serving his last term in office and a former governor also from the region have been plotting to replace the incumbent vice president.

“One of those betraying our people by working hard to take Sambo’s place is a serving governor from North Central and a former governor from North East. They have both shown interest in the seat when President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua died and are still interested in the 2015 presidential race whether as presidential or vice presidential candidate”, the source added.

Meanwhile, the ACF has said that it will continue to monitor the development as it unfolds, even though no one has formally briefed it of any existing rift beyond what has been pushed to the public domain through media reports. The body, however, warned that the situation should not be allowed to degenerate to the kind of melodrama that played out during the last years of President Obasanjo and Vice President Atiku Abubakar in office.

Speaking with Saturday Sun in a telephone interview on the issue, National Vice Chairman of ACF, Senator JKN Waku, said: “We may not be privy to the full details of what is happening between the duo but it is essential to warn that VP Namadi Sambo should not be maltreated under whatever guise. He is the nation’s number two citizen and deserves to be treated so. The country should not experience what the vice president did during the Obasanjo/Atiku era. The president, his aides and all of us have a responsibility to do things that will strengthen the unity of this country and preserve our democracy.”

What appeared as a cat and mouse game between Jonathan and Sambo earlier          became an open controversy recently when former President Olusegun Obasanjo stormed Kaduna to attend a meeting with traditional rulers in the state. Obasanjo is believed to be working against Jonathan’s return in 2015. After the meeting, there have been reports that Sambo facilitated Obasanjo’s meeting with the traditional rulers in Kaduna, where he allegedly sought their support to stop Jonathan’s bid.

The development has compounded the VP’s problem and put him under intense pressure. As a result, he had to issue a public statement denying any conspiracy between him and Obasanjo. In the statement, the Vice President, who responded through his Senior Special Assistant (SSA) on Media and Publicity, Umar Sani, said Obasanjo’s visit to Kaduna was to commiserate with the people of the state over the death of Governor Patrick Yakowa.

Sambo, who explained how the meeting took place and what transpired at the forum, pointed out that the event was not only held in the open but also covered by journalists.

According to him, “the visit of former President Olusegun Obasanjo was merely to commiserate with and console the Vice President and the good people of Kaduna State.  The visit, with his entourage, was witnessed by journalists. After the visit, there was a meeting already scheduled by the Vice President between the new governor and the traditional rulers in the state, which was held within the same vicinity where the former President met with the Vice President for the condolence visit.

“The essence of the meeting put together by the Vice President between the new governor and the traditional rulers was to mobilise support and cooperation of the traditional rulers for the new governor. That particular meeting was not in isolation because it was part of series of meetings being held to mobilise support for the new governor.

“The reason former President Obasanjo was at the meeting was that it was in the same Gen. Hassan Katsina House and his arrival coincided with the time of the meeting. More importantly, he was invited by the Emir of Zauzzau, that since his colleagues were there, former President Obasanjo should come over and greet them.

“His presence at the meeting was to greet the traditional rulers and wish them well. Moreover, the meeting was held in the open and everyone that spoke did so in the open and in the presence of others.”

Meanwhile, the festering crises within the Presidency and the ruling PDP have claimed a major casualty in the person of former governor of Osun State, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, who was last week sacked as the party’s National Secretary by a Federal High Court in Abuja. Impeccable sources said the removal of the party’s scribe was masterminded by the Presidency, as a way of neutralising the Governors’ Forum and ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo’s grip on the party.

Oyinlola was a nominee of former President Obasanjo. As a former governor, he is also seen as a close ally and an agent for the Governors’ Forum, which has also been having a running battle with the Presidency over the control of the party’s structure.

While giving an insight into why Oyinlola was technically knocked out of the party’s executive committee, an influential leader of the party told Saturday Sun that President Jonathan and his team became “very uncomfortable with Oyinlola because of his role in Adamawa crisis and his closeness to the governors.

“He (Oyinlola) also ran into trouble because he was the arrowhead of the plot that disgraced the National Chairman by reverting his (Tukur’s) decision on Adamawa State party exco with a clear indication that Tukur can be removed by the same NWC members that plotted the Adamawa coup anytime.

“Oyinlola’s closeness to Obasanjo is also a problem to the Presidency. The concern by the Presidency is further reinforced when you consider that the party’s deputy national chairman, Sam Jaja, is also on the governors’ side and, in fact, he is the candidate of Rivers State Governor, Chibuike Amaechi, who is an off-record ardent critic of Jonathan. So, the president began desperate moves and measures to take control of the party after his three attempts to install the party’s BoT chairman of his choice failed because of the interest of other contending forces, which thwarted his bid.”.

Source: Sun