After several months of speculations, Aminu Tambuwal, speaker of Nigeria’s House of Representatives, finally defected from the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to the main opposition party, the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Due to his open romance with APC, speculations had been rife that Tambuwal might dump the PDP, on which platform he was elected to the House in 2011. His emergence as speaker of the lower House was at variance with the decision of the ruling party which zoned the seat to the South West.
Pundits believe the speaker’s body language had since indicated that he was no longer in the ruling party, as he had lashed out at President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration over alleged inability to check monumental corruption in the system. Feelers indicated that his defection was a done deal when he attended a meeting of APC members convened by Aliyu Wamakko, Sokoto State governor, to discuss the political future of the state.
At the meeting, the APC zoned its governorship ticket to the Sokoto-South senatorial zone where Tambuwal hails from. This move is seen as paving the way for the speaker to contest for the state’s governorship seat on the platform of the party.
Tambuwal, who represents Kebbe/Tambuwal Federal Constituency of Sokoto State, had avoided events organised by the PDP, especially since the emergence of the now defunct New PDP led by five of the G7 governors in October 2013; one of whom is Governor Aliyu Wamakko. In recent months, he held consultations with various stakeholders, elder statesmen and former Nigerian leaders over his rumoured presidential ambition under the APC.
BD SUNDAY gathered that the House adjourned sitting till December 3 to forestall any attempt by the Presidency and PDP lawmakers from removing him from office.
It would be recalled that in 2007, the speaker defected from the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) to the Democratic People’s Party (DPP) with Attahiru Bafarawa but made a volte face and returned to ANPP when the DPP refused to give ticket to legislators from the ANPP that defected to it. However, when the party’s governorship candidate for Sokoto State, Wammako, decided to switch from ANPP to the PDP in 2007, Tambuwal followed suit. And when Wammako left PDP for APC, the federal lawmaker joined him as well.
Justifying his reason for attending the meeting, the speaker had claimed that a reconciliatory mission of the Board of Trustees of the PDP to Sokoto did not invite him to a meeting of the PDP stakeholders in the state. The BoT members were said to have been led by the Chairman, Tony Anenih.
A statement by Imam Imam, Tambuwal’s special adviser on media, stated that the speaker obliged the invitation by attending the Wamakko’s meeting.
Explaining his reasons behind his defection, Tambuwal said he decamped because of his own political future and political consideration of his home state, Sokoto.
But while the anti-Tambuwal group has faulted the reason given by the speaker on the basis that there is no crisis in the party which was the only ground given by the 1999 Constitution (as amended) for defecting, his supporters have said the fact that a reconciliation meeting was held in Sokoto was a pointer to the fact that PDP was in crisis at the national level.
With this latest development, the PDP still has full control of the House with about 205 lawmakers, while APC now controls about 152. Accord Party (AP) has two members, while Labour Party (LP) has one.
However, this number is short of the two-third requirement to impeach the speaker, where 240 members of the whole House are required.
Another option for PDP lawmakers is the suspension of the speaker where a simple majority of those sitting is required.
But two things Tambuwal has going for him is the stability he has brought to the House since June 2011 as well as his good rapport with members of the House irrespective of their political affiliations. This, a source revealed, is why the speaker will have a ‘soft landing’ in the lower chamber.
“The adjournment till December 3 is a tactical manoeuvre by Tambuwal to buy time. You know, political activities have heightened up and before December 3, governorship candidates of all the political parties must have emerged. So, they will meet briefly, receive the 2015 Budget and adjourn for Christmas. By resumption in January, they will also sit for a short while and adjourn for the general elections where he (Tambuwal) must have been elected as governor of Sokoto”, the source, who did not want his name mentioned. said.
Since his defection, calls have intensified in some quarters for him to toe the honourable and moral path by resigning as speaker since he could no longer work with the PDP that brought him into office. Behind this school-of-thought is the PDP.
In a statement signed by Olisa Metuh, the National Publicity Secretary of the party, after its emergency National Working Committee (NWC) meeting to review the development, the party said: “We are not unmindful of the fact that Tambuwal became speaker on the platform of the PDP as the political party with the majority of seats in the House of Representatives and that this incontrovertible fact has not changed”.
Speaking in the same vein, Femi Fani-Kayode, a former Aviation minister, and Godswill Akpabio, chairman, PDP Governors Forum, asked the Sokoto-born politician to do the ‘honourable thing’ by resigning.
“It is bad enough that the APC deprived the Yoruba the slot of speaker of the House when Tambuwal emerged, but the latest exercise in perfidy is even worse. A speaker of the House changes parties and yet refuses to resign as speaker after the party on whose platform he used to get that position has asked him to do so,” said Fani-Kayode.
But the major beneficiary of his defection, APC, has described Tambuwal’s defection as a welcome development, arguing that it would give the opposition the opportunity to enthrone checks and balances in governance.
Lai Mohammed, APC’s national publicity secretary, said the speaker’s defection to the APC had opened an opportunity for the party to aim for greater heights ahead of the 2015 general election.
He said: “I must say that this historic development means that our democracy is growing by the day and it is dynamic. On a more serious note, we welcome the defection of Tambuwal to APC. With this defection, APC has now taken the leadership of one arm of the national legislature.
“We think that having the head of the legislature from the opposition party makes for a balanced setting in government and it’s good for democracy. When the accord Concordia broke down, the then speaker, Edwin Umezoke, did not relinquish his position. Those who are saying this has not happened before and that Tambuwal should step aside as speaker do not have the backing of history and the constitution.
“Waziri Tambuwal has been a speaker for all the members of the House and all the political parties and for all Nigerians. I’m sure keen observers of activities on the floor and people who follow the House of Representatives would bear witness to the fact that Tambuwal has been a bridge-builder, he has cut across party lines and he has always put national interest in the fore front of all his decisions and his activities on the floor of the House.
“I believe and we trust that even with this switch to the All Progressives Congress, he would continue to do that and keep faith with that principle.
“As a caucus, we pledge our continued support to the current leadership of the House of Representatives. We will not do anything to destabilise the institution of the House of Representatives so that it would continue to deliver on the mandate given to its members by Nigerians”.
Tambuwal’s defection, pundits have observed, will cause ruffling of feathers among members of the House, the Presidency, the PDP and APC in the days to come and it is only a matter of time to see how the drama will play out.
OWEDE AGBAJILEKE
