by Akan Ido

Despite desperate denials from party members, it is becoming increasingly clear that the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is perfecting plans to jettison the current Vice President, Namadi Sambo as President Goodluck Jonathan prepares to contest the 2015 elections.

This has been made more apparent as a high-powered PDP delegation led by the party’s Board of Trustees Chairman, Tony Anenih, visited Governor Sule Lamido in Jigawa yesterday.

This is coming a day after the party’s national publicity secretary, Olisa Metuh, visited the governor.

The meeting which took place at the Presidential Lodge, Dutse Government House, saw the Anenih delegation meeting with the governor for about three hours.

When contacted, the man who is generally known as Mr. Fix It declined to give details of their meeting insisting that he was in the state to meet with his son.

“Lamido is a mature leader, a true party loyalist who deserves all the rights and privileges in the party. This my third visit to Jigawa this year and we have no problem with Governor Lamido,” he said.

The PDP recently adopted President Goodluck Jonathan as its sole candidate but failed to mention his running mate.

Anenih factor

Despite his whittled down influence in the politics of Edo State, Tony Anenih’s influence on the national scale appears not to be affected.

Anenih’s staying power is unrivalled in Nigerian politics as he manages to make himself relevant in the scheme of things making it difficult to be neglected.

His knack for successfully negotiating the best deals, first for himself, and secondarily, for his principals earned the sobriquet, Mr. Fix It.

Anenih launched his steady rise in the political scene when he became the state chairman of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) in Bendel State between 1981 and 1983 in old Bendel State.

His admirers say his resilience and industry guaranteed the election of Dr. Samuel Osaigbovo Ogbemudia as the governor of the state. But the victory was cut short by the military in December 1983.

Anenih was to re-enact his winning streak in 1993 under a two-party system. During the build up to the politics of the aborted Third Republic, the former army chief, late Major General Shehu Yar’Adua and other politicians with similar inclinations, formed the Peoples Front and later the Peoples Democratic movement (PDM), which eventually coalesced into the defunct Social democratic Party (SDP).

He became its national chairman through serious political engagement and manoeuvres while the hitherto national chairman, Ambassador Babagana Kingibe, was chosen vice presidential candidate.

The annulment of the 1993 elections saw Anenih shifting allegiance to the military government in a bid to preserve his relevance. He succeeded.

Anenih became a member of the conference, which produced the current Nigerian Constitution.

He was part of the elite group of politicians who supported the emergence of former president Olusegun Obasanjo in 1999.

Anenih and Obasanjo later had a cause to contest the position of Chairman, PDP Board of Trustees, a battle he eventually won.

With all these political battle-stripes behind him, it is clear that the Goodluck Jonathan 2015 campaign will not lack an adept mobilizer who can swing things in the president’s favour.