The recent withdrawal from the presidential aspiration for which a whopping sum of N27.5million was paid for his expression of interest and nomination forms on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has cast Aminu Tambuwal, speaker, House of Representatives, in the mould of a man with oscillating mood.
Tambuwal had a few weeks ago announced his formal defection from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to APC, a move that elicited controversy in the nation’s political circles.
In a swift reaction to the development, the leadership of the PDP had insisted he should honourably resign his speakership position. What angered a good number of people in the fold of the umbrella party was his guts. Tambuwal had, after announcing his defection, in a manner akin to shutting the doors of the lower legislative chambers and pocketing the keys as it were, told fellow lawmakers to go home until December. Talk of the impunity of a school headmaster!
But in what appeared to be the handiwork of the powers that be in Abuja, the Speakers security details were stripped off him in a jiffy.
Announcing his withdrawal from the presidential race, he said: “I have decided to suspend my participation in the presidential contest for now. I have done so as a sacrifice for the cohesion and unity of the APC. I am suspending my participation in the presidential race for now because I do not have any inordinate ambition to occupy any office. Nigeria is a country too great to sacrifice on the altar of partisan politics and personal ambition.
“What any one becomes in life is exclusively in the hands of God. Only God gives power to whoever he pleases.
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“I came into the APC to enhance and build; therefore, in the interest of our great party the APC and indeed in the overriding national interest I wish to appeal to all my associates, colleagues, supporters, admirers and friends nationwide to show some understanding.
“It has not been easy coming to this decision and I very well understand the frustration, disappointment and disbelief of many who have committed so much to the project including sacrificing not only their physical, financial and intellectual resources but indeed their personal ambitions in the 2015 electoral contest.”
Political commentators in the country have continued to react to what they described as “carrier uncertainty” of the speaker.
A pundit had argued that Tambuwal may have read the handwriting on the wall and have seen that he stood no chance at all at the presidential polls, even if he emerged the APC flag bearer.
“Who is Tambuwal? I laugh whenever I hear people say that Tambuwal is a force to reckon with in Nigerian politics. The question is who is Tambuwal? What are his antecedents? You see, the speaker is popular in the House of Representatives among his colleagues because he protects their interests. We don’t hear after too many fights among them because he ensures that the ‘chop and chop’ principle of Nigerian politicians is maintained. But when you talk about a Tambuwal before the Nigerian voters, they will ask you, who is he? He is not known at that level. When in 2011 ACN fielded Nuhu Ribadu based on his profile at the EFCC what happened? He failed woefully. He failed because he was playing at a stage higher than his popularity could carry him. Tambuwal’s withdrawal was the best thing to happen to him,” an analyst, who craved anonymity, said.
Another pundit told BD SUNDAY that Tambuwal may have been prevailed upon to withdraw by some Northern establishment who may be rooting for Muhammadu Buhari.
“When I read that the leadership of APC was considering fielding Tambuwal in place of Buhari, I sensed trouble. No one would expect Buhari to fold his arms. He may have pulled some strings. He may have reported Tambuwal to some powerful elements in the North who talked sense into him to moderate his ambition,”
A political commentator, Nnamdi Okosieme, told BD SUNDAY that the withdrawal of the speaker from the 2015 presidential race would not help his political image before his teeming followers who may view the action of the nation’s number four citizen as traitorous and as unsteady leader not worthy of following.
He said: “This is the same Tambuwal who said it was his friends and colleagues who were urging him to contest the 2015 presidential and that they were going to pay for his nomination form. He is definitely going to be seen by those friends as a traitor. It is the same Tambuwal who remained in PDP when others left because of the crisis in the party; working as insider for opposition. By his latest action, the Speaker has shown that he is only protecting his own interest and care less about his followers,” he said.
Also speaking to BD SUNDAY on Tambuwal’s withdrawal from the 2015 presidential race, a Lagos-based political pundit, Solomon Esongban, said the speaker has no other option than to bow to the same compelling forces in APC which crushed the presidency ambition of the likes of Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Ameachi and his Imo State counterpart Rochas Okorocha if the Sokoto-born politician hopes to play relevant role in his new party.
He said: “Some of the defector thought they could just stroll to APC and contest for any position of their choice. No! It cannot happen like that; because the party already has structure built by those they met there. But I find it very strange that Speaker Tambuwal and others who left PDP are ready to be obedient and loyal to the leadership of their new party (APC). Had they done that in PDP they probably would still remain there. I don’t think we have heard the last yet concerning Tambuwal’s withdrawal from the presidential race come 2015”, he said.
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Before he declared intention for the presidential race, Tambuwal from Sokoto State, was said to be nursing gubernatorial ambition.
It would be recalled that before he dumped PDP, he had consistently manifested the attributes of an opposition member even while in the umbrella party. On many issues, he had taken the Executive arm to task.
His emergence as the speaker of the House in the first place was a product of rebellion. Contrary to the decision of his party to elect Mulikat Akande-Adeola, from the South West, where the slot had been zoned, as the speaker, Tambuwal, in cahoots with opposition members in the lower house, emerged winner of the election that was witnessed by leaders of his party.
Ever since he emerged the speaker of the lower legislative House, Tambuwal had not spared the Presidency. On several occasions, he had resisted the Executive on national issues and had also lashed out at President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration over alleged inability to check monumental corruption in the system.
Following the gale of defections that hit the PDP at the National Assembly in January, the leadership of PDP at a caucus meeting, advised him to declare vacant, the seats of the defectors in the House, but Tambuwal was said to have pointedly told them that the legislators did not commit any constitutional crime by their defection. He was quoted as saying that there was no reason to infringe on members’ fundamental rights of free association, and that
“There’s no law in this country that prohibits cross-carpeting.”
Zebulon Agomuo & NATHANIEL AKHIGBE
