2015: Battle For VP Begins In Katsina

STRONG indications have emerged that the battle for the slot of the vice presidential candidate ahead of the 2015 presidential election may have begun from the North-west geo- political zone of the country that presently occupies the position.

BallotBoxVote_0Vice President Mohammed Namadi Sambo, a former governor of Kaduna State, presently occupies the position as the number two citizen, but events of yesterday in Katsina and before his very eyes when the shouting of Sai Shema rented the air were signals to the political permutations that may happen ahead of February 14, 2015 presidential election.

Meanwhile, Sambo urged governors elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to emulate Governor Ibrahim Shema of Katsina State who assisted the state chairman of the party in putting up a state secretariat.

Commissioning over N400 million projects in Katsina, the vice president, who hailed the Katsina State chapter of the PDP for erecting the edifice, however, expressed confidence that the party secretariat would provide a conducive environment for the running of party affairs.

There were uncontrollable shouts of ‘Nigeria sai Shema’, which rented the air when Sambo climbed the rostrum before he began his speech prior to his commissioning of the secretariat, which many interpreted to be a tacit call on Shema to take a shot at the presidency or vice presidency.

As soon as the vice president held the microphone to speak and with the shout of ‘Nigeria’, it was immediately greeted with “Sai Shema”. Sambo appeared taken aback with the response instead of the usual ‘Sai Jonathan or Sai Sambo’.

In his remarks, PDP National Chairman, Alhaji Adamu Muazu, who also hailed the Katsina chapter of the party for the office complex, however, assured the members that his leadership will embrace everyone, saying he would engage in moves that will reconcile aggrieved party members and bring back to PDP the governors who defected as well as the lawmakers and stakeholders who left the PDP.

Present at the commissioning of the secretariat were 10 PDP governors, led by the Chairman, PDP Governors’ Forum and governor of Akwa Ibom State, Godswill Akpabio. Also, yesterday, Shema was turbaned the Sarkin Fulanin Katsina 1 by the Emir of Katsina, Alhaji Abdulmumini Kabir Usman. Speaking at the ceremony, the emir, who harped on the need for politicians, especially elected officials, to be fair to the people, stressed that the best way to solve the people’s problems was to relate with them.

On why the title was bestowed on the Katsina governor, Usman, who explained that he was most deserving against the backdrop of what he has done to transform Katsina, said, “There is free education in Katsina. Agricultural transformations are in progress, like the Songhai project.