These are
not good times for Vice President Namadi Sambo. Not only is he battling to be
relevant as the second in command in a troubled government, but beyond the
political pressures almost suffocating him in the Aso Rock presidential villa,
Sambo’s business empire has also come under attack about a fortnight ago when
he lost over N200 million to armed night marauders.
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.
A top source
close to the Vice President said: “This 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.”
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.
A close
associate of Sambo told Saturday Sun that “the monetary value of those special
cows far exceed N200 million”, adding that “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.”
According to
the reliable source, the highly influential Emir of Zazzau, Alhaji Shehu Idris
was also attacked by the marauders who invaded the first class royal father’s
commercial farm along Soba road in Zaria and carted away over 250 cows also
valued at Millions of Naira.
A very close
aide to the monarch told Saturday Sun that “this pattern of attack leaves us
with a conclusion that there is more to it than meets the eye. A situation
where trailers escorted by armed men in military uniforms are driven into well
secured premises and hundreds of expensive cows are driven away without any
security agent accosting them on the road or any trace of where such are taken
to points to a dangerous dimension which does not augur well for our economic
well-being and the unity of the nation.”
The
Commissioner of Police in Kaduna refused to speak to Sun on what is being done
about the sad incident.
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