Mohammed Namadi Sambo

Architect Mohammed Namadi Sambo (born 2 August 1954) is a Nigerian politician who served as Governor of Kaduna State (29 May 2007 - 19 May 2010) on the People's Democratic Party (PDP) platform, and as Vice President of Nigeria (19 May 2010 - 29 May 2015) under President Goodluck Jonathan, having been nominated to replace Jonathan as VP after Jonathan ascended to the presidency following the death of Umaru Musa Yar'Adua. Trained as an architect (Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria), Sambo is a prominent figure in Kaduna's commercial life, with the Sambo Mall in Kaduna among his namesake business interests. As Vice President, Sambo chaired the National Council on Privatisation (NCP) which oversaw the controversial 2013 unbundling and sale of the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) into 11 distribution and 6 generation companies, and he chaired the Board of Directors of the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC), the special purpose vehicle implementing the National Integrated Power Project (NIPP). Sambo's tenure attracted sustained scrutiny over what Premium Times and Sahara Reporters reported in December 2013 as N2.1 billion spent over four years on the furnishing and upgrading of his official residence at Aguda House and associated guest houses, including N900 million in 2011 alone, N437.1 million for 'upgrading and furnishing' in 2012, N202 million on UPS facilities, and N170.7 million on furniture for a new guest house at Yakubu Gowon Crescent, Asokoro. After leaving office in May 2015, Sambo became a subject of multiple inquiries by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) under the incoming Buhari administration. In December 2015, court filings by EFCC contained evidence from Shaibu Salisu and Ibrahim Idris Wambai, an ex-accounts officer to former National Security Adviser Sambo Dasuki, alleging that the Office of the Vice President received monthly stipends of N20 million from the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) during the so-called 'Dasukigate' $2.1 billion arms procurement scandal; sources close to Sambo described the funds as 'statutory subvention for the Office of the Vice President' that Jonathan himself had received while serving as VP. On 30 January 2016 (reported 1-2 February 2016 by TIME, Newsweek, IBTimes, Daily Post and others), EFCC operatives searched Sambo's private office in Abuja, reportedly recovering approximately $50,000 in cash along with bank statements and contract documents, as part of the ongoing Dasukigate probe. In June 2017, Premium Times reported that security agencies again searched his Kaduna residence. Earlier, in 2012, Premium Times had reported that the Sambo-led NCP and the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) under Director-General Benjamin Dikki had 'unilaterally' awarded the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (Enugu Disco) to businessman Emeka Offor's Interstate Electrics, allegedly waiving bid guidelines to the disadvantage of Geometric Power - allegations Sambo denied. In June 2025, former Minister of Budget and National Planning Shamsudeen Usman publicly alleged that the 2013 power sector privatisation had been driven by political interests rather than technical/financial capacity of buyers, prompting Sambo to issue a detailed denial through Punch, Daily Post, The Nation, Tribune, Leadership and Platform Times, describing Usman's claims as 'false, mischievous, and hypocritical' and asserting that the process had been transparent with EFCC and ICPC sitting as statutory members of the NCP. Sambo has never been formally arraigned, charged or convicted in connection with any of these allegations. He continues to be politically active in Kaduna PDP circles, led the ECOWAS Election Observation Mission to Niger Republic in December 2020, and in June 2025 appeared alongside President Bola Tinubu at project commissioning events in Kaduna amid recurring rumours of a defection from the PDP.