Vice President Mohammed Namadi Sambo has been “adopted as the icon of the new generation of political leaders” the people of the northern states are yearning for, according to an independent in-depth sampling of the average northerners’ preferred leadership qualities, carried out by Northern Leaders Transformation Initiative (NLTI) across the northern states.
The most significant development in the northerners’ perspectives on preferred leadership qualities for future politics in Nigeria, especially 2015 general elections, as revealed in the final report on the comprehensive sampling released in Katsina, headquarters of the NLTI, is that “northerners have generally stopped using the Ahmadu Bello, Sardauna of Sokoto and Abubakar Tafawa Balewa templates for assessment and expectations of northern leadership potentials for the obvious reasons of the obsolescence of such templates in the context of contemporary politics of northern Nigeria, due to major permanent changes in the political configuration of the region.”
The NLTI report jointly signed by Rilwanu Charanchi and Ezekiel Edeh, sociologist and political scientist who coordinated the sampling respectively, explained that far-reaching changes such as the steady fragmentation of the region into states and the resultant erosion of the northern hegemony have triggered new trends in political thought and attitudes which indicate support for a new generation of political leaders in the north with special consideration for national stature, strong professional credentials, positive track record in pragmatic service and promotion of unity in diversity in the north and building bridges of peaceful cooperation with other sections of the country.
The report revealed that a tangible majority of respondents in the rural and semi-urban areas of the north where the true masses reside readily mentioned VP Namadi Sambo as “the leading northerner in the national political arena who has successfully blended with other strong constituencies, especially in the South-South, South-West and South-East to promote the interest of northerners in the Nigerian federation” and therefore regard him as “our best bet for the future”.
The Vice President gained significant percentage points ahead of other mainly dark horses in the northern leadership bracket principally as a result of his “well-appreciated” performance as Governor of Kaduna State where he entrenched effective security measures to complement his courageous campaign for peaceful co-existence thereby curbing crises and restoring peoples’ confidence in government which was attributed by several respondents across the north for his unopposed emergence as the best northern leader to team up with President Goodluck Jonathan, who never overtly or covertly lobbied for the position in line with the tenets of true leadership, for a new federal administration.
The report also highlighted VP Sambo’s political maturity and personal human relations as demonstrated in his crisis-free partnership with President Goodluck Jonathan and generally cordial ties with all other important personalities and leaders across the country as another common reference point in a majority of respondents’ assessment of his performance at the Presidency which was described as “the best thing that has happened to the North following the deplorable period of geo-political tensions” because the VP was seen to have checked the excesses of the hawks in the region without diminishing the north in the national arena of politics and governance.
Also mentioned in the report is the consensus of opinion on the expiration of the political relevance of the “old brigade” of northern leaders who succeeded the Ahmadu Bello/Tafawa Balewa era but failed woefully to match the development strides witnessed in the north prior to their emergence as well as the widespread rejection of the ambitious and corrupt clique of northern governors and their tendency to betray and disown their political benefactors and leaders in their unbridled lust for power at all costs.
Noteworthy also was the report’s reference to respondents’ response when asked to advise President Goodluck Jonathan on the way forward where it quoted a substantial majority of northerners apparently more interested in the restoration of law and order and peaceful coexistence in the north than in the quest for elective offices in 2015 as they unanimously cautioned that “the preservation of today’s presidential configuration with patriotic support from Northerners is a better option to experimenting changes to satisfy vaulting ambition with unknown consequences on stability of the nation.
