President Goodluck Jonathan and his staunch supporters are set for a show down with former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, over the demand by the latter that Vice President Namadi Sambo be dropped as Jonathan’s running mate for 2015 presidential election as requisite for his (Obasanjo) support for Jonathan’s second term ambition.
According to an impeccable source within the high echelon of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP), President Jonathan had met with Obasanjo to seek clarification on why the former president is prompting the current governor of Jigawa State, Sule Lamido, to contest the 2015 Presidential ticket of the PDP against him (Jonathan) and to seek an amicable way to settle whatever grievance the former President might have against him.
It was gathered that less than a week after the meeting,
Obasanjo was said to have contacted Jonathan to state his condition for truce and dropped a bombshell
that for him to stop his move for Lamido presidency, the office of the Vice President should be given to Lamido to run with Jonathan during the 2015 presidential election, that the Vice President, Namadi Sambo should be dropped.
However, the demand for the dropping of Sambo is generating controversy and anger within the Presidency and the party, as Jonathan’s men, as well as Sambo’s are
said to have openly expressed their resentment
to the demand by Obasanjo. Sunday Independent leant
from a PDP source, who wants to remain anonymous
since the party has not made any official statement, that the president, who was uncomfortable with the demand, has taken the matter before the two men he greatly respects Chief Tony Anenih, the current Chairman of the PDP Board of Trustees, and a prominent Ijaw leader, Edwin Clark, both of whom were reported to have vehemently kicked against the condition set by the former president.
According to a source: “It is true that both leaders met on
Sunday to discuss matters of national interest; you should
know that it is only sensible for the president to have audience with Baba Obasanjo in view of the insecurity situation in some parts of the north.
“There is also nothing wrong in the two leaders meeting to iron out differences, if at all there are, but the only snag in what a section of the media carried was just out of context; the former president cannot say President Jonathan should not run, because, he knows too well that Mr. President has the constitutional right to run for another term.
“The only thing which I can tell you in confidence, that
featured in their discussions was that the former president
sounded the president out on the various agitations that have mounted against his vice from the north west region of the PDP.
“He reminded the president that, unlike Abubakar Atiku
in his days, Architect Namadi Sambo does not command the required political followership in the north-west zone to carry the PDP afloat if at all he (Obasanjo) decided to back
Jonathan for 2015.
“The former president concluded by saying Sule Lamido would make a better rallying point for the party in the north west come 2015, expressing optimism that at least three of the five PDP governors who dumped the party for APC would return if Lamido was picked.
“By inference, the former leader was canvassing that Sambo be dropped for someone else.”
According to the source, President Jonathan, even before contacting any of his trusted allies, made it known to Obasanjo how difficult and “unreasonable” the demand was in the face of reality in the political dynamics in the country and developments springing up on daily basis.
It was gathered that President Jonathan insisted that he was yet to see what in particular Sambo had done wrong to warrant his being dropped.
Besides, President Jonathan was said to have told Obasanjo that he was more at home with Sambo as his
vice than any other person, as he has enjoyed a cordial
relationship with him (Sambo) and does not in anyway doubt his loyalty.
Also, the President was said to have reminded the former
president that the most popular item of criticism of his administration has been that he paid lip service to corruption, which in actual fact is not true, adding that,
picking Lamido was as good as endorsing corruption in
view of the alleged money laundering charges against two of his sons recently.
The President was also said to have told Obasanjo the
implication of playing into the hands of the opposition,
who would swoop on the “mistake” and isolate the issue to mean that he, Jonathan, has endorsed corruption by trying to cover up Lamido’s sons.
President Jonathan’s stance, Sunday Independent source
said, have been supported with ferocity by Anenih and Clark who were said to have told Jonathan never to succumb to the demand by the former President, as he
(Obasanjo) is not a god, but a mere mortal, who cannot
unilaterally decide the fate of another mortal.
It would be recalled that this is the second time such a request will come from Obasanjo. The former president was said to have put forward same proposal when he first intervened in the crisis between Jonathan and the then G7 governors prior to the defection of five of the governors to the opposition APC.
Then, Jonathan was said to have almost caved in but for
the timely intervention of Anenih and Clark, who insisted on the Jonathan, Sambo ticket. Lamido, who is enjoying the support of Obasanjo, is the former president’s godson;
who appointed him as foreign minister in 1999.
The former president tried twice to make Lamido the governor of Jigawa without success until the project succeeded in 2007.
It would also be recalled that Obasanjo has twice spoken of the qualities of Lamido as a potential president of Nigeria and have been the chief campaigner for Lamido to unseat Jonathan and thwart Jonathan’s desire to run in 2015. Lately, Lamido was said to be oiling his political machinery to give a shot at the nation’s top job.
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