Less than 24 hours after Ambassador Nuhu Bajoga was sworn-in as Kaduna’s new deputy governor, indications are that Vice President Namadi Sambo has settled for another of his acolytes as the new chairman of the state chapter of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Bajoga was PDP State Chairman until he was handpicked by Sambo to replace Muktar Ramalan Yero, the erstwhile deputy governor, who became the state’s number one citizen on Dec. 16 – a day after the death, in a helicopter crash, of Governor Patrick Yakowa.

“Husseini Jalo is the man being positioned by Vice President Sambo as the new Kaduna PDP Chairman,” a reliable source told News Express.

The source confided that Jalo would resign as Sambo’s Special Adviser on Political Matters to Sambo so as to assume the new position. “The Vice President does not want to take chances,” the source said. “He wants to fully control the state.”

A long-time ally of Sambo, Jalo was chairman of Igabi Local Government Area before serving as Commissioner for Environment and Political Adviser to Sambo during the latter’s days as governor of Kaduna State. Formerly deputy state chairman of Kaduna PDP, Jalo in 2010 relocated to Abuja to become Vice-President Sambo’s Political Adviser but left shortly after to contest for the House of Representatives, which he lost to the candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC).

Incumbent Governor Yero is also a long-time Sambo boy. He joined Sambo’s company, Nalado Nigeria Limited, in 1997 as chief accountant and rose to become Director Finance and Administration, a position he held until Sambo, upon becoming governor, appointed him Commissioner of Finance in 2007. He was appointed deputy governor following Sambo’s appointment as Vice President in 2010, which paved the way for the late Yakowa to move up as governor.

Yakowa, who won re-election last year, was the first Christian and southern Kaduna indigene to achieve the feat. With the governorship reverting to the Muslim north upon his death, his kinsmen had hoped to retain the post of state PDP Chairman in addition to filling the post if deputy governor.

“That dream may not come true as ambo prefers Jalo as state PDP Chairman,” News Express source said. “I can tell you that our people have lost out,” added the source, who is from southern Kaduna and well connected in the state’s political circles.

•Photo: VP Sambo has taken full control of Kaduna’s political structures.

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