As the House of Representatives prepares to consider the nomination of Kaduna State governor, Namadi Sambo, as Nigeria’s Vice President tomorrow, the presidency has began crucial fence mending efforts. The choice of Mr Sambo, a dark horse, has angered a number of power blocks whose candidates were thereby jettisoned. One of the first persons that President Goodluck Jonathan decided to placate was former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Mr. Sambo, Ike Ekweremadu, the Deputy Senate President, and half a dozen leaders of the People Democratic Party were dispatched to Abeokuta to see Mr Obasanjo shortly after Mr Sambo was nominated.
A source said the challenge before Mr Jonathan is how to coral all the party elders to endorse and approve an appointment which apparently was made against the advice of mainstream PDP. “Although Mr. Sambo was a commissioner under the Abubakar Umar administration during the Ibrahim Babangida military regime, it is not very clear if he belongs to any of the traditional power blocs seeking to use the vice presidential slot to climb to the presidency” said a presidency source. Mr Sambo has become a governor in the ‘act of God’ style similar to the process that has somewhat defined Mr. Jonathan’s own political trajectory.
About a month to the 2007 elections in Kaduna State, it all seemed set that former Senator Isaiah Balat would be the pick of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) for the governorship race when out of the blues, the outgoing governor, now a serving senator, Ahmed Makarfi, tossed Mr. Sambo into the race. Mr. Sambo won the party ticket, and subsequently the elections, but in a curious turn of power play, ended up running Mr. Makarfi, his mentor, out of town.
The frenzied lobby
Since February when he became acting president, Mr. Jonathan has been holding court at the villa from those who want to be vice president. With Mr. Yar’Adua’s demise, the pressure on the new president became intense and virtually all the northern governors wanted to be considered. “The Villa became a virtual Mecca for all northern governors and even though they always came in the guise of condoling with the president the point was always clear that they wanted to be vice president,” said one of Mr. Jonathan’s aides who does not want to be identified. Emirs and past presidents were also sending emissaries and fresh names were added to the pile daily. “The president was having a good laugh as the media peddled names of one candidate after the other, some even suggesting certain names had passed security clearance,” said our source.
Obasanjo’s visit to the villa
Mr Obasanjo went to visit Mr Jonathan shortly after his return from China where he was when the late President Umaru Yar ‘Adua passed away. At the meeting, which lasted all of 30 minutes, sources in the presidency, and those close to Mr. Obasanjo, said the former president condoled Mr. Jonathan over Yar’Adua, and shared some of the results of his China trip. “Mr. Obasanjo did not veer towards the vice presidency matter for a second,” said our source who thought the former president deliberately wanted to know if the new president needed any help in making his decision. “Obasanjo never brought the matter up throughout their half hour meeting and the president too never brought it up,” he said.
Finding his own voice
It was clear, presidential aides said last week that Mr. Jonathan wanted to stamp his character on the new presidency, and he considered his first major appointment the avenue to make that point. Not surprisingly, Mr Sambo’s appointment caught many by surprise. He is considered, a less than average performer in terms of service delivery in the state where he is currently the governor. In trying to be independent however, some political associates of the president wondered if he had not sacrificed service and ethics. “It is nice and fancy to be your own man but how much time does this president have to do the many things he must do, to work on the power problem, anti-corruption, and electoral reform… you need very strong leadership and that goes beyond expediency” said a party member who does not want to be named.
Since Mr. Sambo’s appointment was made above that of Ahmed Makarfi, the name proposed by the northern interest group in the National Assembly, some party members claimed Mr. Jonathan needlessly wanted to ruffle feathers. Mr. Makarfi is an entrenched power player in the Arewa political pool and was a runner up in 2007 behind Mr Yar’Adua who was ultimately picked by president Obasanjo as his successor.
The fact that he is currently in a bitter political feud with Mr. Sambo made matters worse, according to party officials in Abuja last week. Besides his modest record in office, Mr. Sambo’s electoral value for Mr. Jonathan’s closet ambition to run for president in 2011 is another major issue that has bothered political observers. A close source to Mr Jonathan said, “The President came to a conclusion in his choice of Mr. Sambo because he was the only one who did not lobby for the position and who had no godfather harassing the presidential villa.” NEXT gathered that Mr. Sambo’s refusal to join the aggressive lobbying train was an indication that he would not be overtly ambitious. Mr. Jonathan’s aides compared his attitude to the likes of Bukola Saraki of Kwara State “who turned Abuja into his second home and became more than a nuisance in making a case for his candidature above others,” according to one of the aides.
House of Representatives
Mr Sambo’s nomination, which is slated for consideration tomorrow, is listed second in the House schedule. It is titled, “Consideration in Plenary of the Nomination of Namadi Sambo as Vice President, Federal Republic of Nigeria, Pursuant to Section 146 of the 1999 Constitution” The letter, signed personally by Mr Jonathan reads: “In compliance with the provisions of Section 146, Sub-section (3) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, I have the honour to nominate Alhaji Namadi Sambo for consideration as Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria by the House of Representatives. “While hoping that this exercise will receive the usual expeditious consideration and approval of the Honourable House of Representatives of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, please accept Mr Speaker, the assurances of my highest regards.” Although, the chairman of the rules and business committee, Ita Enang refused to disclose when the letter nominating Mr Sambo arrived the House, it was gathered that the President’s letter, dated May 13, 2010, arrived on Friday morning.”