PRESIDENCY DENIES JONATHAN, SAMBO RIFT

Sambo
The Presidency, yesterday, dispelled a speculated rift between President Goodluck Jonathan and his vice, Namadi Sambo. The Presidency's reaction was in response to a report in a national newspaper on Saturday that should Jonathan decide to run for the presidency in 2011, some of his strategists do not see Sambo as an electoral asset and would want him dropped as his running mate.

The report had also alleged that the failure of Sambo to sway the North in support of Jonathan's ambition is being counted against him.

A source in the presidency, who however preferred anonymity, insisted that the report on the purported rift between the country's number one and two citizens was totally false.

'There was never a time that the President doubted the capability of the vice president and that is the most important thing.' The source further noted that the issue of Sambo not being an electoral asset is unfounded and such could only exist in the imagination of the reporter and his sponsors.

'I think the author of the story still belongs to the old order as the report has also shown. Don't forget that if the President does not have any serious regards for the man (Sambo) in the first place, he would not have picked him.

'Don't also forget he was never in the picture when the choice of Jonathan's vice became an issue and for the President to have settled for a man who had no controversy trailing him, a man who is ready to work with the President to actualize the dream of a better Nigeria, the President has not made any mistake. So for now they both want to remain focused on that and would not want to be distracted with such politically motivated speculations.

'I can also say from a close range that the President knew what he wanted and till now he has not regretted his choice of Sambo in any way. He is not for now perturbed by the speculated political permutations going on in the country.

'I would rather advise that we exercise little patient and wait for the President to make his pronouncement on the issue before hitting the newsstands with stories that are divisionary,' the source said.