1. We are compelled to write this response to a statement credited to
one obscure group by the name Democratic Advancement Option that tended to
make a case for the retention of Vice President Namadi Sambo as running
mate to President Goodluck Jonathan even after having clearly lost every
electoral value in his northern region constituency.
2. It is laughable that the group’s argument is that Sambo is
responsible for the return of Bafarawa and Shekarau to the PDP at a time
when the party had lost four sitting northern governors, several serving
National Assembly members and most recently, the viable political machine
of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar due to Sambo’s lack of grip in the region.
3. Politically, Sambo as the highest political office holder from the
north is expected to have by now mustered sufficient influence to be able
to curb the spate of embarrassing mass exodus from the president’s own
party.
4. We maintain that it is a settled fact that the heavy losses
suffered by the PDP in recent times are recorded in the northern region
where Sambo holds sway, whereas President Jonathan has up till now proved
his firm control of the South-South and South-East zones.
5. We therefore restate our earlier call on the 2015 Presidential
reelection campaign team to reconsider the retention of Sambo if its
electoral success is to be guaranteed in the North.
6. We have already commenced the compilation of data to show the
public how Mr Sambo suffered personal electoral humiliations from his
polling unit in Kabala Kaduna, to the ward, local government and state
levels and how only Sambo’s Kaduna North local council was lost to the
opposition out of the state’s 23 local government areas.
SIGNED:
ABDUL-AZEEZ SULEIMAN, COORDINATOR
NORTHERN EMANCIPATION NETWORK