Tambuwal Faces SaCK PDP, presidency shop for Tambuwal’s successor Adeola-Akande, Farouk Lawan being considered As PDP shops for speaker’s replacement House of Representatives Speaker, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal, may soon lose his position in the legislature over his bid to defect from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC) to contest the Sokoto State governorship in 2015. The presidency and the PDP leadership are discreetly pushing for his removal as soon as he defects to the APC. Although Tambuwal still professes his membership of PDP on whose platform he was elected to the House in 2011, he has for a long time been absent from major party events, including a meeting of the North- West chapter of PDP in Kaduna about two weeks ago, where they endorsed President Goodluck Jonathan for second term. Tambuwal, who arrived in Nigeria yesterday from an overseas trip, is expected to defect to the APC by October. However, New Telegraph learnt yesterday that the clock for Tambuwal’s leadership of the House would begin to tick from tomorrow when the legislature resumes plenary after a long recess. A source told New Telegraph that both the presidency and the PDP were already plotting on how to oust Tambuwal from office. According to a member of the PDP National Working Committee (NWC), the moment Tambuwal leaves the party, they will move against him. “We cannot have an APC speaker in the House. So, the PDP must move to remove him the moment he makes that declaration,” he said. On whether the party will approach the court for Tambuwal’s removal, an aide of President Goodluck Jonathan said there was no basis for that. “The PDP does not need to go to court in removing him; going to court is for the weakling. The PDP will use the power and politics of the House to remove him the moment he defects to the APC. “To remove him, you just need a simple majority. You need a simple majority to win and you need a simple majority to remove him,” the source said. He added that should Tambuwal be removed, the speakership would move to the South-West, where the position was originally zoned to in 2011 under the PDP zoning policy. However, contrary to the party’s zoning policy, which had conceded the House speakership to the South- West and Hon. Mulikat Akande- Adeola tipped to emerge as occupant of the post, some renegade PDP members, with support from APC lawmakers, had executed a coup that produced Tambuwal, from the North- West as speaker and Hon. Emeka Ihedioha, from the South-East, emerged as his deputy, a post hitherto zoned to the North-East. “Tambuwal ascension was just a revolt in the House, but by zoning, our speaker is still Hon. Mulikat,” an aide of the president said. Another source said the party would explore two options in removing Tambuwal: to use the lawmakers to impeach him or through the court. It was learnt that the first option being considered is the impeachment process. “What we will do is to ensure that PDP lawmakers with those in the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and Labour Party (LP) remove Speaker Tambuwal through a simple majority. This may be tough, but this is the first legitimate option,” the source said. The second option will be through the court with the PDP getting a declarative judgment from the court to oust Tambuwal from office on the grounds that he has defected to another political platform. The source said armed with the declarative judgment, the security details attached to Tambuwal would be withdrawn before the court order could be vacated. Also, soldiers would be ordered to seal off the speaker’s office to deny Tambuwal access. It was learnt that the planned resort to court was because of the fear that the PDP and presidency might not be able to muster enough lawmakers to remove the speaker, who enjoys tremendous support from his colleagues. However, as the plot against Tambuwal intensifies, the PDP has pencilled in some lawmakers as his replacement. Among those being considered is Akande-Adeola (PDP, Oyo) and Hon. Muraina Ajibola (PDP, Oyo). Others are Farouk Lawan (PDP, Kano), Bashir Adamu (PDP, Jigawa), Safiyanu Ubale (PDP, Jigawa), Umar Bature (PDP, Sokoto), Bello Matawalle (PDP, Zamfara) and Gambo Musa (PDP, Katsina), all from the North- West geopolitical zone. There is, however, a division among the arrowheads of the plot as to where Tambuwal’s successor should come from. Some are advocating a return to the original zoning arrangement which favours the South- West while others have argued that the speakership should remain in the North-West. Those against the zoning arrangement feels that in the event that Tambuwal is removed, Ihedioha, is bound to lose his seat, should the next speaker be from the South-West, and both cannot come from the south. However, should the South-West gets the speakership, the deputy speaker is likely going to be zoned to the North- East. The 7th edition of the House Rules, which is currently in use, did not specify that the party with majority in the House shall produce the speaker. It is incredibly silent on the impeachment or resignation or removal of the speaker or deputy speaker. Order 2 Rule 4 (a-e) deals with the election of speaker. Curiously, the Standing orders of the House talks about vacancy but did not define how the vacancy will come about: whether by death, resignation or impeachment. It just stated that in case of vacancy and this is captured in Order 2 Rule 9 which states that: “whenever a vacancy occurs in the office of the speaker or deputy speaker, the clerk shall report same to the House at each next session of the House and the House shall either forthwith or in the next session proceed in the manner herein prescribed…” But it was learnt that Tambuwal was aware of the plot against him by the PDP and the presidency and he had his game plan to thwart their moves. He is said to be mobilising his colleagues, especially those in the opposition and his loyalists in the PDP. A principal officer who spoke to New Telegraph on condition of anonymity said even if Tambuwal defects to the APC, he will remain as speaker. According to him, any member of the House is eligible for the position of speaker and that it is left for the members who decide who becomes their leader. According to him, He added that the speakership is not a party position and so the issue of majority or minority party does not count. At the height of the defection of PDP members to the APC and attempt by the opposition party to change some positions in the leadership, they had carved out speaker’s position as untouchable. House deputy spokesman, Hon. Victor Ogene, as well as the Minority Leader, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, had submitted that Tambuwal would not be affected even if the APC controls majority in the House and Tambuwal stays put in PDP. According to them, the constitution takes precedence over the House Standing Rules. Most importantly, Tambuwal has a large followership among the members and this explains the manner he became speaker. A member of the House from Sokoto who is a close associate of Tambuwal said the speaker would contest the Sokoto governorship. The lawmaker said Sokoto State Governor, Alhaji Aliyu Wamakko, who had defected from PDP to APC, was favourably disposed to handing over to Tambuwal. The lawmaker said: “There was a time we travelled to Sokoto with the speaker for the inuguration of projects. As we were waiting, the governor arrived and asked, ‘where is Aminu? That is Speaker Tambuwal. When the speaker came forward, the governor held his hand and told him in Hausa, you have to be learning how to do this now (that is cutting tapes to inaugurate projects).” On why Tambuwal has not defected to APC if when it is widely known that he is only a PDP member in name alone, the source said the speaker was only waiting for the right time to do so. “We (Sokoto) are now an APC state and the speaker cannot afford to run for any office under PDP. Besides, our governor and Tambuwal have come a long way and they have a cordial relationship. I can assure you, Tambuwal will contest for governor and he will win,” he added. But another staunch supporter of Tambuwal told New Telegraph that the speaker would vie for the presidency on the platform of the APC. He said Tambuwal had already secured a campaign office in the Maitama District of Abuja. “If he wants to contest for governorship, why would he open an office in Abuja? I am telling you he has secured an office space somewhere in Maitama and that office may be open soon,” he stated. Reacting to the underground moves against the speaker, his Special Adviser on Media, Imam Imam, said the speaker remained a PDP member and was consulting on his political future. “I will only say that as a rule, we don’t comment on things that are speculation. On what happens to his seat in the event he defects to APC, let us not jump the gun. “The speaker has made it clear that he is consulting with various stakeholders on his political future. Let us wait for the outcome of the consultations before commenting. As things are presently we cannot say for sure what the outcome of the consultations will be. Until then, let us stick with what we know, which is, he’s a member of the PDP and is consulting on his political future,” he stated.
Posted on: Mon, 15 Sep 2014 12:10:20 +0000
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