The
fresh plot is the brainchild of some political heavyweights from the
North who believe that for the PDP to make the desired impact in that
part of the country in the election, it must have a presidential running
mate that is widely acceptable and politically savvy across the region.Sambo,
in their view, is too far removed from the
realities of the politics of the region and therefore incapable of
either addressing the issues or galvanising support for Jonathan ahead
of the 2015 election.
Although
the president is yet to publicly announce his intention to seek
re-election, political watchers believe that his political machinery is
already in place as he meets with different political interests across
the nation on a regular basis.
A
reliable source said in Abuja that the decision to drop Sambo was
reached at a high level meeting and that Jonathan’s body language on the
proposals must have influenced the decision of two of the PDP
governors, who are at loggerheads with the President, to drop the idea
of joining the opposition All Progressives
Congress (APC).
Accordingly, four governors were pencilled down to replace Sambo.
These are Aliyu Babangida of Niger State, Sule Lamido of Jigawa State, Isa Yuguda of Bauchi and Ibrahim Shema of Katsina.
Some
of the governors had, in the past, dissociated themselves from the
alleged plot to replace Sambo who was the governor of Kaduna before he
was picked by Jonathan as vice president after the death of President
Umaru Yar’Adua.
The source said the political heavyweights behind the plot
include some retired but influential Army generals from the region, emirs and an ex-president who is pushing for Lamido.
The
source said: “Don’t be deceived by the denials and counter-denials.
Would you have expected them to publicly accept the plot? What I know is
that these persons have been meeting and Sambo might as well be on his
last tour of duty as vice president unless something drastically changes
the run of event.
“I
can tell you that the strategic choice by Aliyu and Lamido to remain
with the PDP was due to the promise extracted by some political
heavyweights in the party to make one of them, preferably Lamido who is
considered to be highly disciplined and with impressive political savvy
in the North, to be
nominated as vice president after Sambo has failed to command the kind
of respect expected of anyone in that position in the North.”
Asked
if the president would not be inflicting a grave injustice on his loyal
deputy should he accept the suggestion, the source said the reality is
that the president would have to analyse the options before him and take
a decision that would positively affect his future.
“First,
it was understood that the failure to bring the Boko Haram menace to an
end or even try to talk to its leadership to stop the carnage and come
to the roundtable for a peace talk was due to the fact that most persons
in the North still do not recognise Sambo as a Northern leader. They
see him as a businessman who
knows little or nothing about the politics of his domain.
“What
if I told you that Shema is also scheming to be vice president in spite
of his repeated denials and there is a belief that former President
Ibrahim Babangida might not support Babangida Aliyu as vice president
due to some reasons?”
It
was gathered that the political heavyweights rooting for a Lamido vice
presidential ticket have been holding talks with Jonathan and may soon
reach an agreement that would seriously endanger the political fortunes
of Sambo in 2015.
The source said former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s sudden silence on the
Jonathan presidency might not be unconnected with how far the political discourse has gone.
It
is believed that Lamido should be able to garner support to match
whatever threat the Buhari or APC strategy in the North might engender.
However,
it was learnt that Sambo is not taking the matter lying low as he was
said to have been meeting with some of the northern governors excluding
those interested in his seat, in order to garner support for his
candidacy.
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