What future for Tambuwal’s House? THE defection of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Honourable Aminu Tambuwal, from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) has indeed opened a new vista in the gerrymandering ahead the 2015 election. Coming less than four months to another crucial round of elections in the country, the action is bound to create seamless eddies not just within ambits of the political parties but also among other major stakeholders in the Nigerian project. To many perceptive observers, the action of the Sokoto State-born Speaker has not come as a surprise because of his steady, unpretentious romance with the opposition party, in spite of having been elected into the House under the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). He had consistently shoved aside strident criticisms from within his party for what the leaders considered as his gross anti-party activities. Perhaps, many still cannot easily connect that the mesh of controversies surrounding his personalities is deep- rooted in the circumstances that thrust him forward as Speaker. A seeming conspiracy by the opposition with some elements in the PDP had created a smooth path for him to ascend as the nation’s Number 3 citizen. To ensure that he did not only survive the stiff opposition from influential elements in the PDP, the external forces involved in the project took many well-coordinated measures to earn him legitimacy as Speaker, one of which was by taking him round to curry the favour of some other powerful forces across the country. Tambuwal would not be the first as Speaker to have stirred the bees’ nest since Nigeria returned to civil rule on May 29, 1999. But the circumstances varied, such as the scenario that characterised the tenure of Alhaji Umar Ghali Na’Abba as the speaker of the House during the first four years of former President Olusegun Obasanjo. The latter, who had confronted Obasanjo frontally over a number of perceived impeachable offences, suffered a temporary political haemorrage as he could not secure a second term ticket to the House. Subsequent speakers like Aminu Masari, Patricia Etteh and Dimeji Banklole had their individual challenges as speakers but suffice to say they were able to create an atmosphere of stability that the Tambuwal speakership has taken advantage. However, to analysts, his defection to the opposition party now raises a number of fundamental questions. One of them is the implication for the relative stability and cooperation that has enabled the House to perform its statutory duties. Will he still enjoy the confidence of the other members of the House, who, on many occasions had said he was made speaker not on the basis of political inclination and affiliation? Does his decision to adjourn sitting of the House till December 3, 2014, suggest apprehension and uncertainty about the likely reaction of majority of members of the House, who are still at the mercy of their individual parties over party tickets for the next general elections? Has he not unwittingly sown a seed of wind, with very serious implications if allowed to germinate, especially at a time the country is literally on edge because of the actions and inactions of politicians and insurgents in parts of the country? Does his action amount to an infraction of the 1999 Constitution as amended? What is the implication of his action, if viewed against the provision on Tenure of seat of members of the National Assembly? It states in Section 68 (1) (g) that: “A member of the ….House of Representatives shall vacate his seat in the House of which he is a member if... being a person whose election to the House was sponsored by a political party, he becomes a member of another political party before the expiration of the period for which the house was elected; provided that his membership of the latter political party is not as a result of a division in the political party of which was previously a member, or of a merger of two or more political parties or factions by one of which he was previously sponsored….” What does his action also portend for Section 50 of the Constitution? The Section reads: “There shall be a Speaker and a Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, who shall be elected by members of that House among themselves.” However, of particular interest is Section 50 (2) (c)), which stipulates that the Speaker of his Deputy shall vacate office, “If he is removed from office by a resolution ….of the House of Representatives…..by the votes of not less than two thirds majority of the members of that House.” No doubt, the National Assembly is at the last lap of its legislative business in 2014 and at the twilight of the present political dispensation. Whereas tons of bills and other businesses are still pending before the House, the members, like other political gladiators in the land, are already neck-deep in horse trading for the 2015 elections. Some of such critical issues are the Electoral Act, 2015 federal budget to name just two that have far-reaching implications for the destiny of the country. While the general excuse has always been that the work of the National Assembly is largely carried out at the committee, the axiomatic fact is that members of the House will use the long period of recess from Tuesday this week to December 3, 2014, to engage in politicking, even after the conduct of party primaries. Even after resumption, the lawmakers will be preoccupied with serious campaign rallies as allowed by the law three months to the election proper. Options before PDP, APC and others From all indications, the battleline has been drawn between the camps for and against the latest move by Tambuwal. While members of the individual camps will in the meantime go back to the drawing board in order to evolve strategies on how to tackle the Tambuwal conundrum, the political turf might be heated up the more as the camps engage in ceaseless verbal war and vitriolic. Leaders of the PDP will be desirous of exploring possible provisions in the 1999 Constitution to give Tambuwal a good fight, while their counterparts of the APC will be seeking how to stave off all opposition with the possibility of the battle spilling over to the large political arena during the campaigns. For Tambuwal, only time can tell about the positivity of his action, though the crowd that may be witnessed at his formal declaration for the APC may not necessarily be the true affirmation of his political sagacity, relevance and influence. It is the subject of speculation in certain quarters that today’s APC’s extraordinary convention is designed to smoothen Tambuwal’s entry. But what exactly will the Speaker be running for on APC platform in 2015? Of course, the gubernatorial ticket of the APC in Sokoto State!
Posted on: Wed, 29 Oct 2014 14:14:35 +0000
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