As the battle for the 2015 presidential race heats up daily, it has been revealed that there are plans underfoot by some powerful forces within the Peoples’ Democratic Party to drop Vice President Namadi Sambo as the running mate to President Goodluck Jonathan in the next ticket.
In his stead, they are pushing for a serving governor from the North whom they perceive as having more influence than Sambo and as the ultimate joker the party needs to win the North.
However, a few other leaders are wary of the negative implications of dropping Sambo and are carefully weighing the options.
The findings also show that the Jonathan camp has set for itself the major target of securing the backing to win a minimum of 11 out of 19 Northern states.
By its calculations, the President could win convincingly in 22 states, composed of 11 states in the North, the 5 states in the South-East and the 6 states in the South-West.
While Plateau, Sokoto, Gombe, Benue, Kogi, Bauchi, Taraba, Adamawa, Kebbi, Kwara and Jigawa are being targeted as winnable, Katsina, Kano, Kaduna, Zamfara, Yobe, Borno, Nasarawa and Niger are considered unpredictable.
A party source who asked not to be identified 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 given up on winning the South-West as they have Osun and Ekiti States in their sights.
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.”
Jonathan is said to be backing on Governor Olusegun Mimiko and the Labour Party to deliver Ondo State in the South-West, although there are concerns because the politics of the South-West does not follow the same 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.