By Emmanuel Aziken, Political Editor
An incumbent Vice-President can only aim to climb higher to the presidency. But after a controversial reception at a party stakeholders’ meeting in Kaduna last weekend, Vice-President Namadi Sambo is denying any such aspiration. He has many reasons to be cautious.

IT was a meeting convened to strengthen the influence of the Peoples’ Democratic Party, PDP in the Northwest. However, at the end, last Saturday’s zonal PDP stakeholders’ meeting heightened the increasing perplexity among political minders of Vice-President Namadi Sambo over their principal’s political future. Sambo’s perplexing

Sambo: Is he looking up?

politcal predicament is indeed the lot of vibrant and maybe, visionary Vice-Presidents. While Dr. Goodluck Jonathan before him deliberately buried whatever political aspiration he had, Atiku Abubakar, undoubtedly the most enterprising of the Vice-Presidents of the fourth republic was an exception in charting his own course.

As the duo of President Olusegun Obasanjo and Vice-President Abuabakr settled into office in 1999, his deputy and his associates were already looking beyond the 2003 exit date. Atiku who had in the thick of the politics of the third republic passed over the opportunity of a shot at the presidency was peering towards his own political coronation as President.

The first indication of the scheme by Atiku’s associates for ascendancy was the home coming reception held for the then Vice-President, tagged “Reception 2000” in Kaduna in November 2000. The reception which was organized by the then 19 northern Governors across party lines was generally seen as a launching pad for Atiku’s famed presidential aspiration.

The success of the reception was reflected in the massive attendance by political stakeholders including even political deviants such as Alhaji Balarabe Musa, the socialist former Governor of Kaduna State.

That aspiration was also fanned, albeit stealthily by associates of the then Vice-President in a campaign promoted as the Mandela Option. It was a campaign aimed to encourage President Obasanjo to follow the example set by South Africa’s President Nelson Mandela in bowing out gracefully after one term and retiring as a statesman.

But unbeknown to Atiku and his associates, while they were meeting another set of political schemers aiming to extend Obasanjo’s sovereignty beyond 2003 was also meeting in the Presidential Villa on a weekly basis. One of the regular attendees was a serving Governor now a Senator.

So it was not surprising that as Atiku’s associates planned their strategies that Obasanjo through his moles was also getting a feedback on his deputy’s plans.

One of Atiku’s long term associates who had crossed over to President Obasanjo’s camp and had become a national leader of the PDP was also strategic in Obasanjo’s plans. The man according to sources had taken Obasanjo in the wee of the night sometime around 2001 to a one storey building in Asokoro, Abuja where Atiku’s own think-tank headed by Dr. Usman Bugaje met regularly.

Atiku: What is his next option

The leader as he is known was reported to have pointed out the building as Atiku’s proposed campaign headquarters, a fact Obasanjo was said to have subsequently confronted Atiku with. The Atiku think tank, known officially as the National Democratic Project was an intellectual power house where various issues of governance were articulated.

So it was not surprising that when Obasanjo declared his aspiration for a second term in 2002 that no mention was made of Atiku in his plans. The difference between both men was to climax into the famed encounter between both men on the eve of the 2002 PDP presidential primaries when Obasanjo reportedly sought Atiku’s “forgiveness” as he belatedly sought his deputy’s assistance in winning over the influential PDP Governors.

It was the humiliation of a General that may have up till now cost Atiku his life long presidential dream.

Given Atiku’s experience in the hands of Obasanjo it was no surprise that Sambo’s political minders beat a retreat following reports that last weekend’s Northwest PDP meeting was a launching pad for Sambo’s alleged 2015 presidential aspiration.

The reception for the Vice-President was off course well different from the spiteful reception he received during the presidential elections at his polling booth last April when some members of the public reportedly booed him.

His spokesman, Mallam Umar Sani while acknowledging that his boss received a rousing reception was, however, quick to delink any political connotation to the supposed reception. That was despite the presence of campaign vehicles one of which was branded “Namadi Project.”

Umar dismissed the presence of the campaign vehicles as the handiwork of mischief makers.

“The insinuations making the rounds in the media that vice president Arc. Mohammed Namadi Sambo may be preparing to contest for the presidency in 2015 smacks of mischief and is the figment of the imagination of the writers.”

“As a normal tradition reminiscent of the fun fair accorded to such personalities heralding the welcome to political events such as the PDP northwest zonal meeting, the vice president was accorded a rousing welcome. Nothing throughout the occasion suggest the existence of any project notwithstanding the presence of the branded vehicle used by some mischief makers to perpetrate false hood.

“It should be noted that the vice president is resolutely committed to the transformation agenda, assisting President Goodluck Jonathan to deliver on their campaign promises

Falsehood of mischief

“Therefore no amount of falsehood or mischief will distract the VP and make him succumb to such cheap blackmail. The communiqué of the meeting was very explicit on the purpose and outcome of the zonal meeting.”

Well perhaps reflective of the Vice-President’s innocence was the presence of some Governors who by the reckoning of some political pundits are also in contention for the PDP presidential ticket. Among the Governors present last weekend were Governors Rabiu Kwankwanso (Kano), Ibrahim Shema (Katsina), Usman Dankangari (Kebbi) and Patrick Yakowa (Kaduna). All but Yakowa could end up posing a challenge to Sambo in 2015.

Besides the incumbent Governors from the Northwest at least one incumbent Governor from the Northeast serving his second term is also known to be making exploratory moves on a possible presidential run and is known to be in the forefront to position a favourable candidate as the next chairman of the PDP.

Sambo’s possible calculations would also draw into consideration the possible contentions of the Southeast for a stake in the 2015 presidential contest.

Indications of the Southeast inclination emerged at the end of a meeting of Southeast political leaders in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State last week where they noted that the upsurge of the Boko Haram crisis was aimed at derailing the region’s aspiration for the presidency in 2015.

But even more than any other obstacle for Sambo is the lurking image of Atiku Abubakar, the very man whose political trajectory he is obviously studying to avoid the pitfalls. Atiku by several accounts is also preparing himself for another run in 2015. But after nearly twenty years of pursuing one goal his pending conflict with Sambo may be turn into a race between an experienced old warhorse and a fresh blooded novice!