• Another Northern governor emerges
Jonathan’s favourite

The shape of the battle for the 2015
presidential ticket in the Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP) seems to be manifesting by the
day.

Some powerful forces in the party are
pushing for a replacement of Vice President
Namadi Sambo as running mate to President
Goodluck Jonathan on the party’s ticket.
Their choice is a serving Northern governor,
who, in the opinion of those pushing his
case, has more clout in the region than
Sambo.

They regard their candidate as the ultimate
joker the party needs to win the North.
But a few other leaders are wary of the
backlash of dropping Sambo and they are
weighing the options.

According to findings, a major target of the
Jonathan camp is how to secure the backing
of at least 11 out of the 19 states in the
North.

The permutations in the camp of the
President is that he could win convincingly
in 22 states made up of 11 in the North, five
in the South-East and six states in the
South-South.

Northern states being targeted are Plateau,
Sokoto, Gombe, Benue, Kogi, Bauchi, Taraba,
Adamawa, Kebbi, Kwara and Jigawa.
Katsina, Kano, Kaduna, Zamfara, Yobe,
Borno, Nasarawa and Niger are considered
unpredictable.

A party source, who spoke in confidence,
said: “A committee, comprising some
trusted ministers, select loyal PDP leaders
and strategists of the President have been
working round the clock on how to secure
the second term mandate.

“After the groundwork has reached an
appreciable level, the President will then
make a declaration in 2014.
“But a major challenge is how to win at least
11 of the 19 states in the North. The South-
East and South-South are already taken for
granted. Even where there is a bit of
opposition in Rivers State, the presidency is
already tackling Governor Rotimi Amaechi.

“Some PDP leaders are pushing for another
Northern governor as running mate to
President Jonathan to secure the North,
especially the politically volatile North-West
and North-East.

“A fair-complexioned governor in the North-
West is being proposed to replace Vice-
President Namadi Sambo, whose stronghold
on the North is rated as weak. Since Sambo
came on board, the party leaders believe he
had acted more as a “technocrat” than a
politician.

“They are clamouring for a VP who could
play a political role like ex-VP Atiku
Abubakar did for former President Olusegun
Obasanjo.

“As part of the induction of the said North-
West governor into national politics, some
PDP leaders and governors have
recommended him to succeed Governor
Rotimi Amaechi as the chairman of the
Nigeria Governors Forum in May.

“The recommendation of the governor is
based on his achievements, antecedents
with the Yar’Aduas, and ability to reach out
to Northern emirs and opinion leaders.”

Asked of the disposition of Jonathan, the
source added: “So far, he is not disposed to
dropping his deputy but if the party thinks
otherwise in 2015, he might have no choice.
“The President does not want to talk about
2015 now to avoid distraction.”

Another source added that some forces in
the presidency are uncomfortable with
Sambo’s political weight.

“I think the signs are there that the PDP
might change its team because some forces
want Sambo out. They have no particular
reason than sheer politics. They are
suspecting his movement too.

“Recently, Sambo was scheduled for a trip to
Owerri, Imo State. His advance team had
gone to Owerri only for the VP to be stopped
from going. They said the President asked
Sambo to represent him elsewhere.”

It was also gathered that Jonathan’s
strategists have not lost hope on their plan
to ‘capture’ the South-West in 2015.
It was learnt that they are targeting Osun
and Ekiti States.

Another source said: “Jonathan’s team is yet
to give up on the South-West although the
presidency’s cold war with Obasanjo and the
recent sack of the National Secretary of PDP
have discouraged most party members in
the geopolitical zone.

“Their targets are Ekiti and Osun States. The
recent development in PDP has helped to
strengthen people’s faith in the Action
Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in the zone. The
performance of the ACN governors has
added much value too.”

Although Jonathan is banking on Governor
Olusegun Mimiko and the Labour Party to
deliver Ondo State in the South-West, there
are concerns that the politics of the South-
West does not follow a similar pattern all the
time.

It was gathered that the same forces which
claimed to have secured a second term
ticket for Mimiko, came out openly to protest
against Jonathan’s administration for
allegedly marginalising the South-West.







thenationonlineng.net/new/news/2015-pdp-leaders-move-to-dump-sambo/

Desperate times are here. Waiting to see how this pans out.

And for PDP to think North Central is gonna be delivered to them on a platter of gold, they have another thing coming.

''11/19 of Northern states'', hmmm, I dey laff.

sambo shud b replaced imidiately ...if not dat constitution gives him imunity of four years..hmmm dat guy is worst dan atiku...trust me..

Wao this is 'political strategy' at play! In my own candid opinion, besides the 22 States the PDP are scheming hard to win, I think Jonathan will definitely carry the day in Ondo and Oyo and get sizable votes in Lagos, Ekiti and Ogun States leaving out Osun State as the odd one out as far as South-west is concerned! Getting a new VP is another good move, and I am suspecting the Katsina governor as the new replacement