SAMBO, OBASANJO’S SECRET PACT EXPOSED

The political woes of President Goodluck Jonathan continues unabated, with some of his closest associates and trusted allies now alleged to be pulling the rock off his feet, as far as the 2015 Presidential elections is concerned.

Jonathan’s Vice, Mohammed Namadi Sambo, is believed to be working assiduously against his boss to ensure that power does not only return to the North, but in a way that he (Sambo) plays an influential role in the next administration.

Our source said that the Vice-President has been working secretly with the former President, Olusegun Obasanjo, towards scuttling Jonathan’s second term ambition in 2015.

After the death and burial of the former Kaduna State governor, Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa, who died in a helicopter crash along aside the former National Security Adviser (NSA), General Andrew Owoeye Azazi in Bayelsa State on December 15, 2012, Obasanjo visited the mourning state to commiserate with the people of Kaduna.

A source close to the Jonathan camp revealed that it was Sambo who organised the December 31 condolence meeting between Obasanjo and some political leaders of Kaduna State including traditional rulers and emirs.

Chaired by the Emir of Zazzau, Dr. Shehu Idris, the condolence meeting was said to have turned to a high profile political gathering where the former President was said to have used the opportunity to intimate the participants of the need to a ‘’peaceful change in political leadership of the country”.

It will be recalled that the late Yakowa was the first Christian to ever emerge as the governor of Kaduna State and was a deputy to Sambo before the latter was called up to become Jonathan’s Vice in 2010.

Jonathan’s group in southern Kaduna is of the view that Sambo has not been able to stamp his political authority in Kaduna to the advantage of his boss. This became visible in the last election when the Vice-President failed in his capacity to create the expected impact in the state.

Sambo was said to have appointed Ambassador Nuhu Audu Bajoga, former PDP chairman in Kaduna, as the Deputy to Governor Mukhtar Ramalan Yero, two days after Yakowa was confirmed dead in the helicopter crash in Bayelsa.

Bajoga’s appointment was made without much consultation with the stakeholders including the PDP chieftains and the Presidency.

The source hinted that Sambo is doing everything possible to have an easy ride in the state and would never allow the President to be aware of his political intrigues in Kaduna.

‘’The Presidency is watching the development in the state with keen interest,” the source said.

The late Yakowa was said to be a close political associate of President Jonathan which was why he did not hesitate to attend the burial of Pa Tamunoobebara Douglas, father of Oronto Douglas, an aide to President Jonathan, where he died in the helicopter crash.

According to the source, Sambo was accused sometime ago of travelling to South Africa with a certain governor in the South South where they deliberated on how to go about the 2015 presidential election with the governor appealing to be made the Vice-President.

Though the South African parley had been denied by both parties, the source hinted: “The Vice-President is under strict security watch by the Presidency”. He further informed that the Vice-President might not be considered in the 2015 election should Jonathan succeed in winning the primary.

“Jonathan knows what is going on. He may not consider Sambo again in 2015 because the Vice-President has become a political liability to him,” he said.

The source explained that the secret romance of the Vice-President with Obasanjo, who seems bent on getting Jonathan out of the way in 2015, does not go down well with the Presidency, hence “he is no more taken into confidence by the Villa lords,” said the source.

Meanwhile, South South region indigenes have expressed reservations over the fact that for three years that Jonathan has spent on the seat of power as President, he has not done enough to complete the construction of the East-West Road, which is considered vital to the economic life of the country.

Indeed, several accidents have been attributed to the deplorable state of the road, which connects the six states of the Niger Delta region to the other parts of the country, particularly the Western region.

It has now become evident that what the people of the South South region want as a priority from the government of Jonathan is the completion of the road, knowing that after his tenure it would be difficult for a President from any other tribe to consider the East-West project, no matter its viability to national life.

“There is no gainsaying that this road (East-West Road) is the bedrock of the region’s development; its deplorable condition has also been over-flogged in the media. We, therefore, state categorically that the President has failed the people,” the Niger Delta Elders’ Forum said in a statement jointly signed by its chairman and secretary, Etubong Alphonsus Duke and Apostle Nelson Baribote respectively.

The group went on: ‘The Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godsday Orubebe, has also failed, having lacked the dexterity to explore other means for the construction of the road. We, therefore, support the call made by Mujaheed Dokubo-Asari that the minister be sacked and replaced with a more vibrant person. Wherever the person comes from does not matter.

“We have seen that the President and his ministers are more interested in the 2015 agenda than the welfare of the people. We wish to state, however, that, this time around, Niger Deltans will not be fooled to vote for Jonathan unless he takes practical steps to address our developmental challenges in the region without prejudice to other areas.

“As an antidote, the President must, as a matter of urgency, remove the following ministers, aside Orubebe. They are: Diezani Allison-Madueke and Amma Pepple. Unlike others from the region, they are more of political liabilities to the President than assets. This is more so that they are inaccessible to their people.

“We call on other well-meaning leaders of the South South to rise up to the challenge and tow the honourable line initiated by Dokubo-Asari. They must speak if only to help Jonathan. If the President feels so much that he cannot do away with Amma Pepple, Diezani and Orubebe, he should deploy them to other areas where they have no link with the development of the region.”

On his part, High Chief Anabbs Sara-Igbe, former Security Adviser to Dr. Peter Odili, former Governor of Rivers State, described the Jonathan administration as “very disappointing”.

He listed the problems of the region, which he claimed the President has consistently ignored, to include the oil subsidy removal last January, the inability of government to publish a White Paper on the report of the Niger Delta Technical Committee headed by Ledum Mitee and the deplorable state of the East-West Road.

“Jonathan does not listen to advice. They have fixed several dates to end gas flaring in the Niger Delta and failed. How much will it take Nigeria to fix the East-West Road which has taken so many lives? We are totally disappointed in Jonathan because this is not what we expected from him as a President from this region,” Sara-Igbe lamented.

Also lamenting on the poor state of the East-West Road, a three-time member of the House of Representatives from Ikwerre/Emohua Federal Constituency, Andrew Uchendu, said: “I weep on the state of the East-West Road. Our road is completely impassable. The East-West Road carries the burden of this country. President Jonathan owes the people of Niger Delta the debt of repairing that road,” he said.

“If there is any offence that we committed against Nigeria, we should be forgiven,” he pleaded.

The House Committee Chairman on Public Affairs urged the Federal Government to, as a matter of urgency, declare the East-West Road an emergency.

“Unfortunately, the daily cries of the people do not seem to create any impact as there is no sign that the road would be completed in Jonathan’s tenure,” he said, adding that the region has taken its condition in good fate by therefore keeping mum in the face of the on-going barrage of attacks on Jonathan’s government.

Source: Daily Independent