Namadi Sambo is Sworn in Today as VP

Governor of Kaduna State Namadi Sambo will be sworn in this morning as vice-president at the Executive Chambers of the Presidential Villa, Abuja, following his confirmation by the National Assembly yesterday.

This comes as Sambo's deputy Patrick Yakowa is expected to be sworn in as governor in Kaduna Thursday.
Also, the Arewa Consul-tative Forum (ACF) has sent text messages asking Muslims not to foment trouble because of the emergence of Yakowa who is a Christian, saying Islam is a religion of peace.

The swearing-in ceremony of the vice-president will be presided over by President Goodluck Jonathan.
It will also precede the weekly meeting of the Executive Council of the Federation (EXCOF) of which Sambo will now be vice-chairman.

Sambo's approval at the Senate yesterday lasted for about five minutes. The speed and ease at which the approval was given was because of the resolution reached in the prolonged closed session before yesterday’s plenary session.

The Senate had agreed to read the letter conveying Sambo’s nomination to it, consider same and approve it yesterday ahead of today’s EXCOF meeting. But in the House of Representatives, high drama, intrigues and suspense filled the process, which at the end produced the same result.

The approval by both chambers, as prescribed in Section 146(3) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, has thus ended the rash of speculations and anxieties on the issue.

The stage for the consideration of Sambo’s nomination in the Senate was set by the Senate Leader Teslim Folarin moments after the executive communication from Jonathan was read by the Senate President David Mark, under announcement.

Folarin, who led the business of the Senate in plenary, moved in line with Order 40 subsection 2 of the Senate Standing Rules (2007 as amended) that the executive communication be immediately considered and the requested approval given.
Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu who was the sole contributor in the Committee of the Whole (Senate) where the nomination was considered, described the assignment as historic.

According to him, “We have before us a very important and historic assignment and this is the first time we are doing this under the 1999 Constitution........Today, we have been called upon to perform such historic assignment pursuant to Section 146 (3) of our Constitution.”

Ekweremadu said that the nominee was well known to all members of the Upper House, having been commissioner and governor in Kaduna State. He said: “We believe that he is capable; he has temperament; he has experience to become the vice-president of Nigeria."

He called on his colleagues to support Sambo’s nomination. The Senate president put the question and approval was unanimously given by the Senate in the Committee of the Whole.

Swiftly, the Senate moved back into plenary session where progress was reported and his nomination was approved and made a part of the session that would be captured in today’s votes and proceedings.
Mark congratulated Sambo, on behalf of the Senate, on his nomination as vice-president by Jonathan.

In the House, the processes leading to Sambo’s confirmation began quite early in the course of the plenary session when the Speaker of the House Dimeji Bankole read Jonathan’s letter on the issue and the accompanying profile of the vice-president-designate then.

But as soon as Bankole commenced the reading of the letter, the entire chamber became enveloped in a wave of loud murmurings and movements. The speaker was forced to remind members that what he was reading was a communication from the president and deserved some reverence.

As he continued to read the letter, there was anxiety in the air, as some lawmakers wanted to derail the process uss using various antics to interrupt the free flow of the presidential communication. However, the rather long citation on Sambo ended with a loud applause from a cross section of lawmakers but quite a handful of them appeared unsettled by the reality of the situation.

There were snippets of information that some lawmakers from Kaduna State were opposed to the nomination and were mobilising others to kick against it because of some primordial sentiments, bordering on the succession battle that was likely to ensue when he leaves his home state.

The only bold attempt to halt the process came through Ubale Jakada Kiru (ANPP, Kano ) who raised a point of order, urging the House to defer the consideration and approval of the nomination till a later day.

Ubale, who derived his point of objection from Order 8, Rule 2(2) of the House Rules, argued that since the House was embarking on the confirmation of a nominee for such a high profile position for the first time, it was imperative to allow the lawmakers sometime to ponder over the nomination before granting its approval.

His motion was however greeted with shouts of disapproval from his colleagues who insisted that the matter be considered right there and then. The final blow on the bid to halt the process came when Bankole read the same rules cited by Ubale and explained that the rule did not make any express provision for deferment of the confirmation of the nominee.

With the coast clear, House Leader Tunde Akogun (PDP Edo) formally led the debate on the motion for the consideration and approval of the nomination.
According to Akogun, the motion seeking the confirmation of the nominee was a constitutional responsibility which the House must perform in order to be part of history. He appealed to lawmakers to play their roles by approving the nomination without further delay.

Bankole’s move to have the Deputy Speaker Usman Nafada (PDP Gombe) contribute further to the debate did not go down well with the lawmakers. There was commotion and the process was stalled for about 20 minutes.
When Bankole insisted on yielding the floor to Nafada after the noisy interlude, there was another loud uproar of disapproval just as the lawmakers broke into a solidarity song: “All we are saying, put the question. All we are saying give us Sambo.”

Eventually, Nafada and Minority Leader of the House Mohammed Ndume (ANPP Borno) had the floor for a few minutes each during which they tried to justify the nomination of Sambo. But their presentations were drowned by the noise of the lawmakers who were eager to have the matter closed through voting.

A voice vote gave the day to those who wanted Sambo confirmed as vice-president.
In Kaduna, Muslim groups have warned all Muslims not to allow the name of Islam to be dragged in mud by allowing themselves to be used in causing crisis.

The warning which are currently being sent through text messages to people within and outside the state insisted that Islam is a religion of peace that abhours violence in whatever guise.

The text also appealed to people to support Sambo as the new vice-president
One of such text messages which emanated from Arewa Forum, said: “Islam is peace, why allow its name to be dragged in mud? Islam is justice for all, why allow the unjust to mislead us? Support the new vice-president for peace and justice to reign.”

A religious leader who spoke on condition of anonymity, on the reported tension in Kaduna regarding a Christian governor, said: “God created us in this state and in Nigeria; Christians and Muslims and it is not always that one religion will be ruling continuously without the other tasting it.

Also, the Commissioner for Information in the state Saidu Adamu has said that a reception committee has already been formed for the swearing-in of the new governor. The commissioner appealed for co-operation and support from everybody in the state so that the new administration of Yakowa succeeds.

Yakowa, THISDAY learnt, has moved to the state Government House. He was there for more than three hours yesterday, receiving congratulatory visits from political groups, members of the state cabinet, legislators and others. He later left for Abuja to witness the swearing-in of the new vice-president.