THE MANY TROUBLES OF VP NAMADI SAMBO

-His Battle To Stay Relevant
-Northern Governors Jostle For His Post
-Loses N200 Million To Cow Thieves

This is certainly not a good season for Vice President Namadi Sambo. He is not only battling to be relevant in a government he is second in command, the former governor of Kaduna State is equally contending with influential forces within the rank of some Northern governors angling to take his place as a running mate to President Goodluck Jonathan should the latter decide to run for another term in 2015.
Beyond the political pressures almost suffocating him in the Aso Rock presidential villa, Arc Sambo’s business empire has also come under attack about a fortnight ago when he lost over N200 million to armed night marauders.
It is gathered that the incident, which has been kept under wraps and downplayed in government circles, has greatly unsettled the number two citizen ,who is not only unhappy that gunmen could enter his premises in Kaduna and cart away his life investments unhindered, but also that almost three weeks after, security agencies, especially the police, seem not to have any clue on how a sitting vice president would be so brazenly robbed.
It was learnt that about a fortnight ago, some armed men in military uniform invaded a commercial farm owned by the vice president along Birnin Gwari road, Kaduna State, where they allegedly loaded about 2000 imported special specie cows into trailers and disappeared till date.
Sources disclosed that the monetary value of those special cows far exceed N200 million. The incident and subsequent development look more like a deliberate attempt to strangle the VP economically because he has been a successful businessman in and out of politics.

The source, who refused to be named because he was not authorized by the VP to speak for him on the matter, but he disclosed that “the issue, though not in the public domain because of the quiet nature of the vice president, it is generating strong suspicion and mistrust not only in the presidency but between Northern elite and the government because of some other persons that were targeted in what we regard as a calculated decimation of the economic power of northern leaders.”

In an attempt to downplay the loss, a presidential aide, who sought to be anonymous because of the sensitive nature of the matter, however, said the VP only lost about 1000 cows in the attack, saying: “Anybody saying it’s 2000 must be mischievous.”