Goodluck Jonathan, Nigeria’s new president, fuelled mounting expectations that he plans to contest next year’s election when he bypassed several potential rivals yesterday in his choice of deputy.
Mr Jonathan overlooked several ambitious candid- ates to nominate Mohammed Namadi Sambo, a technocrat without a broad political base. Some saw this as a manoeuvre by Mr Jonathan to keep competitors away from the levers of power and clear the way for him to run in the next election.
Powerful state governors and security chiefs had coveted the vice-presidency as a springboard for a bid for the top job. Instead, Mr Sambo, who is currently the governor of Kaduna State in the mainly Muslim northern region of Africa’s biggest energy exporter, will go before the national assembly for confirmation.
Mr Sambo was not Mr Jonathan’s first choice, insiders said. “It is a compromise between the governors and Goodluck’s ambitions,” said Shehu Sani, an activist from Kaduna.
Mr Jonathan became acting president after his predecessor, Umaru Yar’Adua was incapacitated by illness. He became full president when Yar’Adua died last week.
But Mr Jonathan has yet to reveal his intentions for the election, which must be held before the middle of next year, beyond pledging to a more credible poll than the three contests held since the end of military rule in 1999.
If Mr Jonathan, a southerner from the Niger delta, does run, this would shatter an unwritten pact within the ruling People’s Democratic party under which the presidency rotates every two terms between the north and the largely Christian south.
While some are urging him to run, another possibility is that Mr Jonathan may have heeded those allies who have advised him to introduce rapid reforms and then stand aside.
A president and a deputy with no interest in the election might stand a better chance of overcoming vested interests, analysts said.
Mr Jonathan, once regarded as a lightweight in Nigerian politics, has consolidated his authority after being thrust into the top job during the long illness of Yar’Adua.
One influential figure appeared to have been removed from the political game yesterday when authorities in Dubai arrested James Ibori, a former state governor, on suspicion of alleged money-laundering and conspiracy to defraud.
Mr Ibori, who helped to finance Yar’Adua’s election campaign in 2007, was an opponent of Mr Jonathan. The former governor faces an extradition request from the UK, where the authorities in 2007 froze assets related to him worth $35m. Mr Ibori has denied any wrongdoing.