PEOPLES Democratic Party (PDP) chieftains have decided to recognise the deputy speaker of the House of Representatives Emeka Ihedioha as the leader of the parliamentarians as part of a strategy to marginalise and eventually oust Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal. Last week, House of Representatives speaker Tambuwal announced that he had left the ruling PDP and joined the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) on whose platform he would run for Sokoto State governor next year. Since then, the PDP has withdrawn his security detail in what is seen as a way to intimidate the speaker into resigning. Alhaji Tambuwal cannot be impeached as Nigerias constitution requires that two-thirds of parliamentarians must vote for his removal. There are at least two suits in court on the matter,. with one questioning the legal status of the speaker and the other filed by Alhaji Tambuwal challenging the withdrawal of his security details. With the legal infighting ongoing, PDP leaders have asked deputy speaker Ihedioha, to take charge of its PDP troops in the House and today the party plans to meet to further assess its strategy. It decided on this course of action after reports that Alhaji Tambuwal was making moves to impeach his deputy. One National Assembly source said the PDP viewed with disdain, reports that Alhaji Tambuwal was trying to impeach the deputy speaker for his loyalty to the party. He added: “We found this very absurd and I can assure you that the formidable cordon already formed around the deputy speaker will not allow that.” As of at now, the PDP is seeking interpretation of Section 68(1)(g) of the 1999 constitution to see if Alhaji Tambuwal is compelled to resign following his decision to change parties. In addition, the party is also wooing parliamentarians to see if it can muster enough votes to get him impeached. “The PDP will not relent until the speaker relinquishes the position due to the PDP. We have only witnessed this type of development when a member of a minority party was holding the seat of speaker when there was alliance between the defunct NPN and NPP but the PDP does not have any alliance with APC and there is no division in the PDP, so Tambuwal has to go,” the national Assembly source added. APC lawmakers have also begun working to ensure that the alleged plot by the presidency and the PDP caucus to reconvene the House before December 3 is frustrated. There are fears within the APC quarters that the presidency and the PDP may be pushing to reconvene the House to enable members pick a new speaker.
Posted on: Mon, 03 Nov 2014 22:14:46 +0000