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Tag: Namadi Sambo

  • 2015: Pressure mounts on Jonathan to retain Sambo

    2015: Pressure mounts on Jonathan to retain Sambo

    •Muazu loses out

    President Goodluck Jonathan may retain Vice President Namadi Sambo as running mate in 2015 following mounting pressure from leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) across the country.

    There had been moves to replace Sambo with a more ‘acceptable’ politician from the North.

    However, PDP leaders after reviewing the situation seem to have succeeded in persuading President to shelve the idea.

    Sources familiar with the development said the fear of the backlash which the replacement of Sambo might generate influenced the rethink.

    Many PDP leaders, it was gathered, feared that the party would be running a big risk if it went into the 2015 presidential election with a divided house, and against a formidable All Progressives Congress (APC) waiting to capitalize on  the situation.

    Consequently, the PDP National Chairman Adamu Muazu who was touted as a possible replacement is now out of the equation.

    Besides, the PDP has decided to stick to its 2011 power sharing formula for the six geopolitical zones.

    The Southwest is tipped to be rewarded with the position of House of Reps Speaker should the party win.

    A Presidency source said: “In spite of moves by some leaders of the party to make a case for the PDP National Chairman, the preponderance of opinion in the party favours the retention of Sambo.

    “I think more than anything, the loyalty of Sambo in keeping the Presidency stable and united is working for him.

    “Although there were a few missteps by Sambo, like the sack of a former Minister of Power and a new residence for VP at inflated cost, these leaders said it is better to give the VP a second chance than to go for a fresh candidate.

    “The PDP leaders also claimed that it will take a new VP much time to learn the rope and this may slow down the administration of the President.”

    A high-ranking member of the National Working Committee (NWC), said: “Our leaders have reached a consensus on the VP; they are already mounting pressure on President Jonathan to retain him.

    “It has been sealed that the VP should be re-nominated to keep the winning team intact and sustain unity in the party.

    “The PDP team, led by the Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Chief Tony Anenih, which went to Jigawa State, only met with Governor Sule Lamido to support the re-election bid of the President.

    “The team did not go to Lamido to offer him VP slot.  I can confidently tell you that we are not shopping for a running mate to the President.”

    Another source said: “Sambo’s fate has not been made known because it is the prerogative of the President to choose his running mate. Therefore, President Goodluck Jonathan will make the announcement at the appropriate time.

    “Unless Jonathan wants to go for a greenhorn, most of the governors, hitherto interested in being VP, have backed out.”

    Responding to a question, the source added: “The PDP National Chairman is certainly not on the card; Sambo may be re-nominated by the President.

    “Key PDP leaders from the North and some royal fathers have been making a strong case for Sambo.”

    The posters, bearing the photographs of the President and Muazu, had on Wednesday flooded Abuja creating anxiety in the presidency and the PDP.

    The posters were produced by the National Chairman Support Group, one of the associations assisting the PDP National Chairman to consolidate in office.

    The inscriptions on one of the posters with PDP logo, read: “The game has changed for better transformation”, “A united Nigeria is possible beyond 2015,” and “support for Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan (President), Dr. Adamu Muazu (Vice President).

    A youth group, Northern Youth Good Governance and Democratic Coalition, on September 17 accused Muazu of nursing a secret presidential ambition.

    It also alleged that Muazu was trying to scuttle President Jonathan’s 2015 ambition.

    National President of the coalition, Usman Hamid and National Secretary, Pastor Attah Ochoga Mark, expressed disdain for the recent disposition of the national chairman to the candidacy of the president.

    The group faulted Muazu for allegedly declaring the presidency as “an open contest.”

    The group queried the rationale for the formation of a National Chairman Support Group in all 36 states of the federation, saying: “Evidence of Muazu’s Presidential ambition has always been there in the open for long though most people did not realize it.

    “Very early in the day, Muazu set up what he surreptitiously christened National Chairman Support Group in the 36 States of the Federation and the FCT.

    “Come to think of it; of what use is a Support Group to the National Chairman of a Party, which already has structures up to every village in Nigeria if not for covert reasons?”

  • PDP changes its decision on Sambo

    PDP changes its decision on Sambo

    •’He’s part of a winning team’

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) changed its position yesterday on the fate of Vice President Namadi Sambo.

    At a briefing on Sunday, the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, was equivocal on whether the automatic ticket given to the President by the party also covered the Vice President.

    He said the party ceded the power to choose a running mate to the President.

    The party’s National Executive Committee’s endorsement of Jonathan was silent on Sambo.

    But Metuh, in another statement yesterday, said Sambo was part of the “winning team”.

    Said he: “There is no doubt whatsoever that the Vice President has the implicit confidence of the President.

    “The PDP is therefore very pleased that they are working together in actualising the transformation agenda to the popular acclaim of Nigerians and the international community.

    “We wish to place on record as well that the 66th NEC meeting of our great party, which endorsed President Jonathan as the sole candidate of the PDP for the 2015 general elections, responsibly reasoned and anchored this decision on the outstanding performance of the Jonathan presidency of which Vice President Sambo is an integral part.

    “This motion, which was unanimously endorsed by NEC, left no room for any form of speculation, as Senator Jim Nwobodo, who seconded it, expressly hailed both the President and his deputy for lifting the banner of the PDP very high, while  praying the NEC to approve the motion.”

    Metuh also attempted to modify his earlier statement that Jonathan had yet to communicate his acceptance of the party’s unanimous endorsement of his candidature.

    “This statement is to clarify obvious misinterpretation arising from the party’s  position at the world news conference yesterday, where it averred that the President was yet to accept the sole presidential candidacy offered by its NEC”.

    Metuh’s statement, however, did not state categorically if the President had communicated his acceptance to the party.

  • FG intervenes in Anambra, Kogi clashes

    FG intervenes in Anambra, Kogi clashes

    The Federal Government Friday intervened in the bloody clashes in oil rich border communities of Anambra and Kogi States, which had killed several people.

    Towards resolving the dispute, Vice President Namadi Sambo presided over a meeting behind closed-doors and attended by representatives of the two state governments and the National Boundary Commission (NBC).

    Speaking with State House correspondents at the end of the meeting, Governor Idris Wada of Kogi State said that a lot of progress has been made in the attempt to resolve the matter.

    Expressing hope that the matter would be resolved by the end of the year, he said the NBC is tracing the boundary of the affected areas.

    According to him, every effort is being made to maintain peace and tranquillity in his state.

    The Anambra State Deputy Governor, Mr. Nkem Okeke, also said the resolution of the crisis was foremost on the mind of the governor, Willie Obiano, whom he said, wants a quick end to the senseless killings.

    He said that his state was pleased with the vice president‘s intervention, especially with his directive to the NBC on the matter.

    He said, “I am here representing my principal, Chief Willie Obiano, who is unavoidably absent because of the burial of Prof. Dora Akunyili.

    “I think this is one thing that is foremost on his mind to solve. Nobody wants senseless killings, killings for no reason. He sent me here to make sure that we get things moving, and I’m quite pleased with the meeting, with the way the vice president carried out the meeting.”

    “He gave directive to the NBC to set a date to do all the necessary surveys and establish the boundary between us and Kogi State and I believe, in the near future, things will be sorted out.”

     

  • ‘Nigeria has potential to be among 20 largest economies’

    The Vice President,  Arc  Namadi Sambo has said Nigeria has the potential to be among the 20 leading economies in the world, adding that the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP) currently standing at $150 billion is a pointer to that possibility.

    Speaking during an award ceremony by the National Productivity Centre for 15 individuals and three organisations in Abuja,  he said knowledge learnt from the rebasing exercise will help the nation  to diversify the economy and increase job opportunities for the youths.

    He said: “Nigeria is blessed with abundant natural resources; we had and still have all that is required to rank among the 20 largest economies in the world.

    “The significance of today’s occasion lies in the need to revive and inspire our country men and women to pursue the ideals of higher productivity in every sphere of our personal and corporate national life.

    “Against this backdrop, this administration has approved a national policy on productivity in February 2012, the first in our country’s history. This policy seeks to provide for all types of government, a systematic and comprehensive roadmap, a charter for ensuring a planned and balanced, deployment of material and human resources for the benefit and common good of all Nigerians.

    “In spite of the daunting challenges, our efforts are yielding positive results. In 2013, we experienced 7.41 per cent in the growth rate of the economy. Power supply is steadily improving and we have our trains  back on track with newer more modern system.”

  • Jonathan wants poverty eradication, energy in development agenda

    Jonathan wants poverty eradication, energy in development agenda

    To address the shortcomings of the present Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) programme, President Goodluck Jonathan on Monday called for inclusion of poverty eradication, access to sustainable energy, infrastructural development, population demographics and governance in the Post-2015 Development Agenda.

    Jonathan, who was represented by Vice President Namadi Sambo at the Presidential Summit on the MDGs and Post-2015 Development Agenda in Abuja, said that the factors are essential for development of nations across the globe.

    According to him, the upcoming framework must finish the unfinished business of the current MDGs.

    He said: “In summary, for the Post-2015 Development Agenda to have the necessary impact on the development trajectory of nations across the world, the new set of goals needs to tackle the issues that were not addressed under the current framework, with poverty eradication, access to sustainable energy, infrastructural development, population demographics and governance at the center.

    “It must be understood that these areas are crucial to the process and cannot be left out. The new framework must finish the current business of the MDGs. If the current framework was the so-called ‘floor’ for development aspirations on which we set more ambitious and contextually appropriate policy aims, then the new framework must consider the most fundamental problems facing the least developed societies in the world.

    “It must tackle those problems first. The formulation process needs to continue to be inclusive so that development realities and not academic conjectures are tackled. This inclusion has the added benefit of increasing community buy-in across the world.

    “Being cognizant of these, I assure you of government’s commitment to consider the outcomes of this Summit. I wait eagerly for the output documents.”

    He noted that the MDGs framework has helped to focus international and local attention on improving the lives of those most vulnerable in society.

     

  • Photo: Sambo at 60

    Photo: Sambo at 60

  • If only votes will count in Ekiti election

    SIR: Two weeks to the governorship election in Ekiti State, some evil script is being acted in the state by the powers-that-be to thwart the electoral process.

    It is not an exaggeration. One recalls that Vice President Namadi Sambo, as PDP’s  campaign committee chairman for Ekiti and Osun states, had boasted that the two States would “be made war fronts” to retrieve them from those who presumably annexed them via court judgments.

    Since he made the statement one has never been able to stop wondering: “Why war fronts as a phenomenon? Why the choice of words which conveyed nothing but the extreme of a struggle or fight?

    Now the president, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, has come to Ekiti State to flag off the campaign of the PDP’s candidate in Ekiti State, on Saturday, June 7, during which there were statements made that were obviously calculated not only to intimidate but to confirm an intention to impose their candidate by electoral manipulations and damn the consequence.

    Statements such as was later made by Governor Godwin Akpabio of Akwa Ibom in his capacity as PDP GovernorsForum Chairman,to the effect that “the victory of Fayose would trigger a barrage of litigations” which he said PDP would fight to a logical conclusion by engaging the nation’s SANs were, to say the least, pre-empting the PDP’s disposition to rebel against democracy and the government of Ekiti State.

    There, on the rostrum, at the Olukayode Stadium, Ado Ekiti, on  June 7, speaker upon speaker had indulged and incited the PDP candidate to see himself as the anointed by referring to him as the “next governor” or the “in-coming governor” which were the candidate’s own self-aggrandizement in posters and bill-boards, as if everything about Ekiti was waiting to be falsified.

    Interestingly, PDP’s flag-off of campaign had gone peacefully on Saturday, despite obvious provocations targeted at the APC, such as the falsehood that the APC administration in Ekiti State was owing salaries.

    The APC members kept indoors and waited till the next morning to “cleanse Ado Ekiti in a symbolical sweeping with APC brooms, an exercise which ordinarily should have passed as mere electioneering fun but for the police which decided to shoot at sweepers and killed Taiwo Akinola.

    Aren’t we being forced to believe that the police was acting a script since brooms are no weapons of any sort; since the police did not go to quell a riot; since they only went to stop the harmless sweeping?

    Was the ego of the police supposed to have been hurt more than that of the PDP members who had watched the APC sweep the sweepables and the unsweepables in the past and were then not bothered by that particular sweeping fun of Sunday morning?

    It is note-worthy that the police had shamelessly come up with a statement on Monday in which it accused the APC of provoking the violence (nay PDP) with its sweeping exercise on the fateful Sunday but the same police didn’t see any provocation committed against the APC by the PDP only the previous day.

    This evil script may have a next scene in more intimidating killings that can send the opponents of PDP into far inside their holes while the PDP would campaign and create crowds exclusively to justify the enthronement of the PDP candidate.

    The way Abuja is going about things,we may even witness a situation in which votes will not count in Ekiti 2014 and the PDP will employ all the SANs in the universe to justify it.

    That is the fear and, probably, the script.

     

    • Jide Oguntoye,

    Oye-Ekiti.

     

  • Wild protests greet new train fare regime

    Wild protests greet new train fare regime

    Irate train commuters yesterday damaged the glasses of one of the two new air-conditioned Diesel Multiple Unit (DMU) locomotives inaugurated on Monday by Vice President Namadi Sambo at the Iddo Terminus in Lagos.

    The protesters were angry about the new fare regime introduced by the Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC) on June 2.

    The NRC increased the fare for the Economy Class on the standard Mass Transit Train (MTT) from Iddo to Ijoko, an Ogun State suburb, from N150 to N230. The fare on the First Class coach was  increased from N500 to N750.

    The protest over the fare hike caused a major hiccup in train services yesterday. Scores of commuters, who were just hearing of the new fares, protested the hike.

    The protest spread to major train stations, especially on the Ogun State routes, forcing the NRC to hurriedly suspend operations. Most stations on the Lagos axis hurriedly shut down.

    The Itoki train station was set ablaze by the protesters. The DMU, which was on its first service, was vandalised at the station. Most of the glasses on the three coaches were shattered.

    At Ijoko, the protesters also vandalised another standard coach, on its fourth shuttle from Kajola.

    At Agbado, bonfires were allegedly set on the train tracks while NRC officials, including cleaners, drivers and ticketers, fled to void  attacked by the protesters who overran the station.

    A commuter, Mr. Lekan Adesina (aka June 12), who usually boarded the train at Agbado, said he was shocked when he met the station in turmoil .

    He said: “Everyone of us was shocked that the railway corporation could increase the fare for trains by as much as 80 per cent across the Economy and First Class.

    “This unilateral increase was carried out without any consideration to the fact that this is the only means of transportation for the masses and without adequate enlightenment about the change in the price regime.”

    Also, about 100 suspects were arrested yesterday in Lagos and detained at the Nigeria Railway Police Command at Ebute-Meta Junction, Alagomeji, Yaba, in connection with the case.

    A police source said the detainees would be taken to court after investigation.

    NRC’s Assistant Director of Public Relations Mr. David Ndakotsu condemned the commuters’ action.

    He said the NRC had been charging the old fares for about a decade.

    “We told them we were offering new air-conditioned coaches. They clamoured for a change, but it is sad that when we gave them the new coaches, they destroyed them,” he said.

    The public should understand that the equipment were obtained to serve them better.

    “The last thing we expected was for the new rolling stocks to be vandalised. It is sad and should be strongly condemned,” Ndakotsu said.

    He confirmed that some suspects had been arrested, adding that investigation had begun on the incident.

  • Emir of Gombe buried

    Emir of Gombe buried

    THE late Emir of Gombe, Alhaji Shehu Abubakar, was laid to rest on in his palace in Gombe on Friday evening. The Emir died on May 27 in a London hospital.

    The Chief Imam of Gombe Central Mosque, Imam Aminu Pindiga, led the funeral prayer.

    In attendance were  Vice President Namadi Sambo, the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III, PDP National Chairman Adamu Mu’azu and Gov. Ibrahim Dankwambo of Gombe State, FCT Minister, Sen Bala Mohammed, that of Transport, Alhaji Idris Umar as well as the the Deputy Governors of Gombe and Bauchi, Tha’anda Rubainu and Alhaji Sagir Aminu-Saleh respectively.

  • Govt in ‘back-door’ talks to get schoolgirls out

    Govt in ‘back-door’ talks to get schoolgirls out

    VP Sambo coordinates talks through clerics, elders

    The Federal Government has begun talks with Boko Haram on how to free the abducted Chibok girls, The Nation learnt yesterday.

    The government is also asking the sect to hold its fire in the interest of both parties.

    But Boko Haram  is demanding that the military pulls the brakes on its action against its members, a source said yesterday.

    The insurgents have also kicked against arrest of their brethren and their detention without trial.

    According to sources, the “backdoor” talks are being coordinated by Vice-President Namadi Sambo through some clerics and elders in the North.

    It was, however, stressed that the talks had nothing to do with “outright negotiation” with the sect because the Terrorism Act forbids payment of ransom.

    Some of those involved in the talks have met the Vice-President up to five times, it was learnt.

    It was also learnt that the facilitators include some elders from Borno State who have links with some coordinators of Boko Haram.

    A source in the Presidency, who pleaded not to be named because he is not allowed to talk on the issue, said: “The government has been engaging Boko Haram through the backdoor. This is being coordinated by the Vice-President.

    “The insurgents used to send representatives or emissaries to some of these Northern/ Borno elders and clerics we have engaged.

    “These leaders and clerics also give us feedback on their demands which centre on the need to stop military action against them; putting an end to mass arrests of their members and detention; and the release of detained Boko Haram members.

    “The government is actually not negotiating with the insurgents, it is just discussing  with them on the basis of ceasefire and the release of the innocent girls.

    “We hope that there will be a mutual understanding which will be respected by both parties. Our ultimate objective is to secure the release of the girls.”

    Responding to a question, the source added: “The way we do it is that we feel their pulse or demand through some of these elders/ clerics or leaders who are known to them. We also tell them what we want.

    “In fact, some of these facilitators of the talks have admitted that the Boko Haram leaders are known to them.

    “We are not negotiating because even those who want to assist us do not support negotiation.”

    Another source said: “I can only tell you that a lot of underground work is being done to set the abducted girls free.

    “The latest challenge to the underground talks is the meeting in France where all the nations have agreed to join forces against the sect.

    “This development in Paris on Sunday is making the sect to have a rethink if the ongoing talks should continue or not.

    “In the next few days, we should know where we are going.”

    A security source said: “There is no doubt that the government has been having indirect contacts with Boko Haram.”