TheCable

Ahead of the February 14, 2015 presidential election, President Goodluck Jonathan has come under intense pressure to drop Vice-President Mohammed Namadi Sambo as his running mate.

Although there has not been any reported rift between the duo ─ unlike former President Olusegun Obasanjo and his deputy, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar ─ the major argument being canvassed against the retention of the former governor of Kaduna State is that he is a “political lightweight” and cannot deliver the needed northern votes in the election.

As the intrigues are intensified ahead of the official ratification of Jonathan as the candidate of the party after his adoption by various organs of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the position of Sambo has continued to come under scrutiny.

But a presidential aide told TheCable that Jonathan has no intention of dropping the architect as his vice-president.

“It is true that the president has been under pressure from various interests in the north that he should not retain Sambo, but I can confidently tell you that as at today (Sunday), the president has no plans to drop him. I don’t know about tomorrow,” he said.

It was initially thought that Governor Sule Lamido of Jigawa State was playing hardball with Jonathan as a negotiation bargain to be picked as vice-president in place of Sambo, but Lamido has now fully endorsed Jonathan for a second term without any conditions.

Governor Ibrahim Shema of Katsina State has also been enjoying a lot of media blitz recently in what many interpret as an advertisement for a higher role in government after 2015.

Both Lamido and Shema are second-term governors whose tenures will end next year.

The name of the governor of Niger State, Dr Babangida Aliyu, was also mentioned among those likely to be considered as Sambo’s replacement, while the former governor of Kaduna State, Senator Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi, has also featured prominently.

Makarfi and his successor as governor, Sambo, had not been on good terms long before the latter was made vice-president on May 19, 2010.

Makarfi was one of those considered for the position then before Sambo was eventually picked by the president.

Beyond being second-in-command for four years, the vice-president is also expected to be a top contender to succeed Jonathan in 2019 in the event that he gets a second term.

This sole reason has intensified the political intrigues within the PDP, which many project will find it difficult winning substantial votes in the far north next year because of the prevailing sentiment that power must return to the region.

A PDP leader from the north-west, who declined to be named, said Sambo is not politically strong to counter the growing strength of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the north-west.

“Out of the seven states in the zone, APC controls only three, but things could get worse if General Muhammadu Buhari picks the ticket of APC. He is very popular in the north-west. Sambo will be no match for him,” he said, trying to justify why Sambo needed to be dropped.

“Don’t forget that Sambo could not even deliver his ward to the PDP in the 2011 elections. If Jonathan really wants to make an impact, he needs a very strong character to be his running mate.”

The vice-president is said to be calm over the unfolding scenario and there are indications that he might have been assured by the president’s men that his position remains secure.

“Sambo is in a very difficult situation because as VP, what can he do? The anti-PDP sentiments in some parts of the north are not his fault. It is an emotional issue that a northerner must be president, so there is nothing he can do that will please those who have this strong sentiment,” the presidential aide said.

The president “is highly unlikely” to pick Lamido as his vice-president “or any overtly ambitious person for that matter”, the aide said.

“Nigerians saw how the country was almost crippled by the bitter fight between Obasanjo and Atiku over who would succeed Obasanjo as president. Atiku clearly had his eyes on the position and this led to an open war that affected government business from 2005 to 2007,” he said.