Tag: Sambo

Vice President Namadi Sambo is worried at the dwindling fortunes of his political party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and the rising profile of the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) in his home state of Kaduna and is fighting hard to reverse the trend, reports Assistant Editor, Dare Odufowokan

Last Tuesday, chieftains of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kaduna State gathered in the residence of Vice President Namadi Sambo at an emergency parley to discuss what worried PDP sources called the troubling rate at which the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) is growing in the state as well as other challenges facing the party ahead of the 2015 general election.

The Nation gathered that apart from discussing the recent defection of some members of the party to the opposition APC, the meeting also discussed the implication of the seeming successes of the opposition party in the state on Sambo’s political fortune. The meeting had in attendance both the vice president and Governor Mukhtar Yero.

Apparently worried by the obvious growing popularity of the opposition in his domain, the Vice President appears to be coming all out in what is certainly a battle to halt the progress of the APC in the state. Sources said determined to save his political career, Sambo is reaching out to all stakeholders in Kaduna PDP to put their grievances aside and join him in ensuring that the PDP wins Kaduna come 2015.

Sources at the meeting said Sambo, while speaking during the parley, acknowledged that the party is faced with the challenge of ensuring cohesion within and preventing its members from joining the new party.

“The vice president spoke of how he has been working tirelessly to map out strategies to maintain PDP’s dominance as the ruling party in the state, despite the overt threat posed by the fast growing APC. He revealed that he has already commenced the drive to not only return those that defected to the APC, but woo members of other opposition party to the PDP.

“Parts of his effort to save the soul of the PDP, according to him, are the numerous meetings he held with members of the PDP who had left the party to return before 2015 elections. He has also met with some aggrieved members of the PDP who were contemplating dumping the party.

“Already, we are seeing some results. I can tell you that a lot of our members who wanted to defect are now staying back, while we are discussing with some already in the opposition party to return back to the PDP where they belong. All these are outcome of Sambo’s renewed bid to save the PDP in Kaduna State,” our source said.

Sambo and his party really have reasons to worry as the APC continues to prey on leading PDP members since its formation last year. No fewer than 12 prominent chieftains of the crisis-ridden ruling party defected to the APC in Kaduna last December, leading to widespread worry over the ability of the vice president to keep the party intact in his home state.

Among those who dumped the ruling party were, a former state chairman in the state, Yaro Makama, Ambassador Sule Buba, who was the campaign director of the late Governor Patrick Yakowa in 2011, seven serving members of the state House of Assembly and four former commissioners. The large number of legislators involved and the pedigree of Makama as a renowned grassroots mobiliser, sent jitters sown the spine of the leadership of the PDP.

Coming barely a week after 37 members of the House of Representatives left the PDP for the APC, the development caught the attention of both the national leadership of the party and the presidency. Sambo was said to have gotten a marching order to halt the trend immediately.

But rather than abate, the wave of defection grew stronger as another batch of 2,300 chieftains of the PDP defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC). It was gathered that among the defectors are five serving and eight former councillors in the council. Twenty-four hours later, about 1, 200 members from the vice president’s council area reportedly moved to the APC.

The development assumed a more worrying dimension when insinuations emerged that the defection of Makama and others is a clear indication that the Senator Ahmed Makarfi group in the ruling party may be on its way out. Markarfi, a former governor of the state, and the vice president have been engulfed in a fierce political war since 2008. The former governor is one of the most influential politicians in the state with a large followership cutting across the state and across all divides.

Makarfi and Makama are close friends and political allies and the defection of Makama is being interpreted in some quarters to mean that the former may also be on his way out of the PDP. Although the senator has denied the insinuation, many chieftains of the party are not convinced. Consequently, efforts are being intensified to ensure that his grievances are taken care of.

Sources say, sensing danger ahead of the next general election, Vice-President Namadi Sambo has practically relocated to Kaduna in a bid to save the party from losing to the APC in 2015.

It was learnt that Sambo expressed worry that with Kano State now in the hands of the APC, the votes from Kaduna State has become very vital if the PDP is to make a good showing in the North-West in 2015.

“You will recall that in2011, while President Goodluck Jonathan secured about 400,000 votes in Kano State, the former CPC presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, got more than 1. 6 million votes. So, there is need for us here in Kaduna to halt the invasion of the opposition if the PDP is to win in the North-West.

“Don’t also forget that Sokoto and Zamfara state governors are now in the APC. These are some of the reasons why Sambo is disturbed,” the source said.

But some observers of the politics of the state say the rivalry between Sambo and other influential party chieftains like Senator Makarfi, Alhaji Samaila Yakawada,  Alhaji Shuaibu Mikatti, and Alhaji Suleiman Hunkuyi, amongst others, may affect the fortunes of the party in the state negatively in spite of ongoing effort by the vice president.

“It is not just about the APC. Even within the PDP, there are people plotting to get even with Sambo and Yero for excluding them from the scheme of things in the state since the death of former Governor Ibrahim Yakowa.

“For example, Yakwada, who served as the Secretary to the Kaduna State Government under Yakowa administration, is yet to forgive Sambo and Yero for allegedly instigating the removal of Alhaji Usman Gangara as Speaker of the Kaduna State House of Assembly.

“Though the governor and the vice president denied having a hand in the impeachment, Gangara and other principal officers, who claimed that their removal was illegal, although still in court to challenge the impeachment, may see the next election as payback time.

“In fact, the PDP governorship primaries in the state would either make or mar the party, depending on who emerges as its flag bearer. This will also affect the fortunes of the party in the 2015 general election,” our source said.

To further underscore the crisis within the PDP in Kaduna State, former National Legal Adviser of the party and former Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice under the administration of Makarfi, Mr. Mark Nzama, recently said the PDP in the state was currently at its lowest rating since 1999, warning that unless things change, the party may be heading for disaster in the state. Nzama, who comes from Southern Kaduna, maintained that it was going to be difficult to get the block votes in the southern part of the state because the people of the area have not been carried along.

“Instead of a policy of appeasement or discussion, we have a situation where people in government or leadership position make it a duty to insult the sensibility of our people. So, we can see discontent and sadness among our people who ordinarily would vote the PDP without asking questions.

“Today, they are asking why there had been no improvement on what was left behind by Makarfi. So, I can say without any shadow of doubt that the fortunes of the PDP in Southern Kaduna are highly at risk. This is largely as a result of mismanagement or failure on the part of people in government to build on the foundation that was laid,” Nzama said.

Nzama stated further, “Instead of listening to advice, they engage in childish gossips, name calling and persecution of anyone who speaks up, just as the trend is glaring in both Northern and Central Kaduna zones. The entire state is pregnant with feverish anger against the current administration in the state and as well our party.

“When you meet politicians, they complain of exclusion, you meet businessmen they complain of non-patronage and over concentration of business opportunities in the hands of a few favoured fronts of those in government, you meet the youths, they complain of failure to empower them, among others. This trend must be arrested if we want to sustain the fortunes of the party in the state.”

But to the APC’s Interim Chairman, Dr Hakeem Baba Ahmed, Vice President Sambo should not trouble himself further as the 2015 election will be contested strongly among two parties, the PDP and the APC.

“ The 2015 election will be contested by two parties. That is the party that wants to bring development to the country. We have the vice president and governor but nothing is happening in Kaduna State despite the loan being collected for the state. We don’t even know what they are using the loan for because they have nothing to show in the state.”

The political scenario in Kaduna today suggests that the APC is ready to give PDP a run for its money and with Sambo set to personally lead the renewed push to halt the raging political invasion, what is left to be seen is how far he can go before the 2015 general elections.

In many ways, the politics of Kaduna State mirrors that of the country not only because the state is sharply divided along religious lines but also because of its ethnic composition that engenders a fierce competition for power between the geo-political sections. Even at that, the significance of Kaduna goes beyond its locality, essentially because it has for decades been the political headquarters of the North.

However, while the politics of the state has always been fascinating, never in recent history have we had the kind of situation that obtains today when some charlatans who parade themselves as political leaders would be selling all manner of dubious stories. Even when most people know that the forebears of some of these characters hail from Niger, Chad, Cameroun etc, that fact has never been an issue against them. But now, out of desperation, they want to divide the North with their half-digested “historical tales” that are neither here nor there, in the bid to get at the Vice President.

In what is no more than sheer political chicanery, a former elected governor of Kaduna State has suddenly become an “alien” in the state he ruled only until less than four years ago just because of the inordinate ambitions of some politicians. That sort of politics should have no place in any decent society and it says so much about the character of those behind the campaign of calumny that they would rather hide behind the anonymity of faceless groups to do their dirty work.

Ordinarily, it would not have mattered if the essence of the madness is merely to profit from the electioneering season. But the agenda of the politicians in question is more sinister than that: they are bent on bringing others down in the bid to promote their own interests. And in doing that, nothing seems sacred to them so long as the end justifies the means.

While most of these political gamblers are already in the camp of the opposition and are surreptitiously working against the interest of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), they are still posturing as members, indeed leaders, of the ruling party and they would want the world to believe that they alone can deliver Kaduna to President Goodluck Jonathan in 2015. And the plot they have devised is simply to denigrate the person of the Vice President in pursuit of their ambition.

So desperate have these politicians become that almost on a daily basis now, they invent stories about how “unpopular” the Vice President has become in the North just as they are now screaming themselves hoarse about the “dwindling fortunes” of PDP in Kaduna State. They persist because the Vice President would neither be distracted by the antics of those who do not wish the PDP and the Jonathan administration well nor join issues with political time-servers who would want to drag him down with them. Yet, there should be a limit to the kind of dirty politicking that is becoming a daily fest now as we move towards the 2015 general elections.

As one of the five founding leaders and financiers of the PDP in Kaduna State, I consider it rather unfortunate that some misguided political manipulators in Abuja are buying into the fraud that because some people can make noise and have access to the media, nothing moves in Kaduna without them. But since these Abuja armchair “strategists” know little about the politics of Kaduna State, we can pardon their ignorance by telling them some home truths.

The first issue to tackle is whether the PDP is as “unpopular” in Kaduna State as some of these politicians would want the world to believe. A party that has always controlled the state since the inception of the current dispensation in 1999 with a history of performing governors should have no problem winning any election, even if there are some disgruntled elements within its fold.

Since I am not aware that any of the prominent politicians from Kaduna State who are holding elective or appointive offices has defected from the party, I therefore wonder where these faceless politicians get their stories from. But given the nature of the time we live in, it is easy to situate why there is a well-oiled campaign that PDP has suddenly become “unpopular” in Kaduna State. We have been on this road before, even though the stake seems to be higher now.

Indeed, in the build-up to the 2003 general elections in the state, the same scenario played out. At that time, some of our politicians threatened to defect from the PDP, (a few actually did) but not long after the party recorded victory, they all crawled back. The same thing happened during the 2007 and 2011 elections. Yet despite the huffing and puffing of such characters, hallucinating that the fortunes of PDP had dwindled, the PDP emerged victorious as expected. And in their shameless manner, they came back to the same party that they worked against in the course of the election.

In essence, what the foregoing reveals is that we are confronted with the same old tricks as we prepare for the 2015 general elections. Yet it is almost certain that once we are done with the 2015 elections, pin-drop silence will replace the present cacophony. Sadly, they will wait till 2019, and start all over again what has become their stock in trade.

However, what makes their antics very unfortunate this year is the fact that they have some cowardly puppeteers who determine the level of the noise they make. These puppeteers are watching to see which side the political pendulum will swing in Kaduna State and although they may think they are clever, the good people of Kaduna State know them for professing loyalty to the PDP by day and hobnobbing with APC kingpins by night.

Interestingly, what seems to unite this self-serving group is their inability to come to terms with the rising profile of the Vice President, Arc. Namadi Sambo. Evidently not comfortable with his position in the hierarchy of things in the state and the country, they erroneously assume that encouraging some light weight politicians to decamp from the PDP in his home state, and drawing media attention to such inanity would be a way of assailing the reputation of the Vice President.

The cold calculation of those behind this campaign of calumny is to create the erroneous impression that the Vice President is a politician without strong following in Kaduna in particular and the North in general. If they succeed in their machination, on which they have some willing collaborators in Abuja, the idea is for these political desperadoes to position themselves as the 2015 “Northern Messiahs” for President Goodluck Jonathan.

While it is easy for critical observers to see through this cheap blackmail, those who seem determined to set back the hands of the clock would not allow peace to reign in Kaduna State. We should stop them in their tracks before they derail the PDP and the Jonathan administration.

What I find particularly tragic is how some politicians would imagine that the upward trajectory of their political fortunes is entwined with the downfall of the Vice President. And to achieve their objective, they are even ready to help the opposition make inroad into the state as we approach 2015, so as to justify their cold calculations. But this strategy will not work because the people of Kaduna can see through the antics of those bent on creating a confusion from which they intend to benefit.

It is noteworthy that since the emergence of democracy in 1999, Kaduna State has been a solid bastion of the PDP, and will remain so, given the reality on the ground. While there exists a vocal minority who delight in promoting discord and hate, majority of our people recognize those who fight for their interest. Just because those people have chosen to work behind the scenes does not, and cannot, suggest a dwindling of fortunes for the PDP in the state.

The point to underscore is that those brandishing such whimsical fantasies will do same to the APC once they have achieved their selfish goals and are looking for the next ‘greener pastures’. The absence of any ideological direction in their political life lends credence to their penchant to swiftly get into bed with the strangest political bedfellows and change camps whenever the music changes. But they are assured of meeting their political waterloo at the next general elections in Kaduna State.

From 1999 to date, I have participated in all the elections that produced the PDP governors in Kaduna State and it is also on record that I successfully coordinated (in the state) the elections that ushered in Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua (of blessed memory) and Goodluck Jonathan. All these candidates defeated their opponents at each of these elections in Kaduna State. I can therefore say from experience and a position of practical knowledge that those playing the ostrich today will not have the last laugh in 2015.

The sheer strength of the PDP and its widespread acceptance has become so intimidating to other parties that the movement of a few individuals with doubtful political following is immediately highlighted as gain. But the reality will dawn on everyone when the PDP wins the state in 2015, because we are ready to continue working assiduously toward improving and expanding the fortunes of the people of Kaduna State. That is the charge the Vice President is leading, not only in Kaduna but indeed in the entire North, no matter what the mischief makers may want their crowd to believe.

•  Senator Balat, a former minister is currently a Special Adviser to the President, in the office of the Vice President