welcome again to d Progressive Party. my Powerful Speaker. Aminu Tambuwal Media aide says speaker is ‘consulting’ Chuks Okocha, Muhammad Bello in Abuja and Mohammed Aminu in Sokoto As speculations were rife Monday that the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal, had defected to the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC), his media aide Imam Imam stated that “consultations on the speaker’s political future continue and the outcome will be made public at the appropriate time”. Although the statement failed to confirm if Tambuwal had left the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on whose platform he became a member of the legislature and speaker of the House, sources close to Tambuwal said that he would defect “any minute from now” and would contest the governorship race on the platform of the APC in his home state, Sokoto. Tambuwal was expected to throw his hat into the ring for the presidential contest as an APC candidate, but the sources said he has decided to settle for the governorship race on the grounds that most major stakeholders of the party such as the Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi and a National Leader of the party, Bola Tinubu, had settled for former military Head of State Major-General Muhammadu Buhari as the presidential candidate of APC. However, his media aide admitted that Tambuwal had attended a stakeholders’ meeting of the APC in Sokoto on Monday at the instance of the state governor, Aliyu Wamakko. Imam added that the meeting had in attendance prominent Sokoto citizens many of whom have no known political affiliation, the most notable being the Sardauna of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubukar III, and former Minister of Finance, Alhaji Abubakar Alhaji. He also revealed that the PDP Chairman of the Board of Trustees (BoT), Chief Tony Anenih, led other members of the party on a reconciliation meeting in Sokoto on Monday but Tambuwal was not invited. Despite the statement by Tambuwal’s media aide, sources close to the speaker said he is expected to defect this week or early next week unfailingly owing to the timetable of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and that of APC, which places a deadline for the purchase and submission of nomination forms. Besides, Tambuwal, who has stopped attending critical stakeholders’ meetings of the PDP, has failed woefully to hide his lingering romance with the APC. He was expected to join the opposition early this year shortly after 37 of his colleagues in the House defected from the PDP to the APC, but delayed his departure when the opposition party lost the slim majority it briefly held in the House. Also, his departure at the time would have prompted PDP to push for his impeachment as speaker of the House. However, a House member explained that this would have been difficult to achieve because PDP does not have the two-thirds majority needed to effect a leadership change. The speculation on Tambuwal’s defection yesterday was triggered by a statement made by Wamakko during the stakeholders’ meeting in Sokoto. Wamakko told the APC members that the speaker had been in support of the partys activities since its formation. “I want to inform all stakeholders of the APC gathered here that Tambuwal has been with us since formation of our great party. “We told him to remain in PDP until the day of nomination of the partys governorship candidate. And today is the day,” Wamakko said. He called on the supporters of APC to put the interest of the party above their personal interest. “You should not be like the Peoples Democratic Party who are currently at Giginya Hotel quarelling over positions,” Wamakko stated. He thanked party members for their loyalty and support in the last seven years. Tambuwal, however, declined to speak to journalists after the meeting. THISDAY gathered that at the meeting, the party members failed to reach a consensus on the partys governorship candidate for the 2015 polls. The secretary of the APC in the state, Aminu Bello, told newsmen that the party only agreed that a committee should be set up immediately to pick the partys standard-bearer. He revealed that the stakeholders agreed to zone the governorship slot to Sokoto South Senatorial zone where Tambuwal hails from for the 2015 elections. Reacting to rumours of the speaker’s defection, the National Publicity Secretary of PDP, Olisa Metuh, said the party would not react until it is confirmed that Tambuwaal had left for APC. “Let’s wait until it is confirmed. The party does not want to make a statement or react to unconfirmed reports. We have party liaisons. We will wait until it is confirmed, he said.
Posted on: Tue, 21 Oct 2014 12:46:52 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015