Tambuwal: Defection issues crop up as House gets set to resume Amidst speculations that Speaker Aminu Tambuwal is planning to defect to the opposition APC following the defection of his state governor, Aliyu Magatakarda Wammako, and 10 House of Representa

As it is now, Tambuwal is the only House member from Sokoto who is still in PDP, while his close allies are in APC. Will he remain in PDP till 2015 despite being Wamakko’s ‘right-handman?

When Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, first won election into the House of Representatives to represent Kebbe/Tambuwal Federal Constituency of Sokoto State in 2003, it was on the platform of the then opposition All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP).

Tambuwal, whose legislative interests include judiciary, human rights and rural transformation later defected to the Democratic People’s Party (DPP) few months to the 2007 general elections, alongside former Sokoto State Governor Attahiru Bafarawa.

But the DPP by refusing former ANPP legislators return tickets, forced Tambuwal to go back to the ANPP, where he eventually succeeded in picking up a ticket for the election.

The political calculations changed when the then ANPP governorship candidate for the state in the 2007 election and current governor Aliyu Wamakko dumped the party for the PDP, taking along with him Tambuwal and others.

Tambuwal who practised actively as a lawyer between 1993 and 1999 was elected deputy chief whip in the House, the position he held between 2007 and 2011 when he became Speaker.

Before becoming the Speaker, Tambuwal was at various times a member of several committees including committees on rules and business, communications, judiciary, inter-parliament and water resources. He also served as a member of the House Ad-hoc committee on constitution review.

He chaired the ad-hoc committee that reviewed the report of the controversial power probe committee headed by Ndudi Elumelu. He was also chairman, House subcommittee on the Bill for an Act to amend the Land Use Act and acting chairman, House committee on power at a point.

He was leader of the Nigerian delegation to African, Caribbean, Pacific and European Union Parliamentary Assembly (ACP-EU) held in Prague, Czech Republic in April 2009 and served as vice-chairman of its economic committee.

All these were said to have prepared the man to become Speaker of the House in 2011. But his emergence as Speaker was largely due to the support he had from members of the opposition parties, major among them the then Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC). APGA and Labour Party members also supported him. This happened despite stiff opposition from his party, the PDP, which had zoned the office to the SouthWest.

This single act, analysts say, made Tambuwal to be operating based on the wishes of the House members while shunning any influence from the presidency. In fact, analysts believe that Tambuwal has been involved in a secret face-off with the presidency for the past two and half years as a result of this.

The initial refusal of the House to approve Jonathan’s last year’s budget amendment long after its passage and the issues in the presentation of 2014 budget, analysts posit, are instances where the Speaker has tried to assert the independence of the legislature. Tambuwal’s recent comments that President Jonathan’s body language encourages corruption, many say, also shows that the Speaker may not be enoured of the leadership style of the President.

With the emergence of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the crisis that rocked the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Tambuwal’s ‘right-hand-man,’ Wamakko along with four other governors defected to the APC in November last year.

Not long after that, 10 out of the 11 House members from Sokoto followed Wamakko to APC alongside 27 other lawmakers. As it is now, Tambuwal is the only House member from Sokoto who is still in PDP.

As a matter of fact, nearly all top political office holders in Sokoto State, including 27 state assembly lawmakers, cabinet members, local government chairmen and councilors followed Wamakko to APC with the exception of his deputy Mukhtar Shagari who vowed to remain in PDP.

But Tambuwal seems to be dancing alone in PDP, while his close allies are in APC. Will he remain in PDP till 2015 being Wamakko’s ‘right-hand-man?

Sources told our reporter that there is no gainsaying the fact that Tambuwal’s heart has been in APC even before the defection of his governor and colleagues to the party.

As if to confirm this, recent events suggest that Tambuwal has been secretly ‘romancing’ and meeting with APC leaders such as General Muhammadu Buhari and Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.

On December 3, 2013, he was reported to have held a secret meeting with the APC leaders and others in Kano State Governor’s Lodge in Abuja.

During the meeting, it was learnt that the governors present persuaded Tambuwal to join his governor Wamakko in the APC.

But Tambuwal’s spokesman Malam Imam Imam had denied that his principal was at the Kano Governor’s Lodge for a meeting with APC leaders, rather, he said “The speaker went to see his governor who sought to see him, and he went there before the meeting commenced and it did not commence before he left the lodge.”

Several media reports suggested that APC leadership might be considering Tambuwal for the presidential ticket of the APC.

However, despite daring the PDP on several occasions, if Tambuwal thinks the PDP will allow him to defect to APC just like that, he is perhaps under an illusion as the party was reported to have said it would give him an automatic ticket for Sokoto governorship election.

The party had in a bid to keep Tambuwal within its fold last Thursday cancelled its planned inauguration of its caretaker committee in Sokoto State, a move that analysts say was to enable Tambuwal nominate candidates who would not only protect his interest in the party’s affairs but would ensure his emergence as its governorship candidate.

The party had gone ahead to inaugurate a similar caretaker committee in Kwara State same day.

In the wake of the suspension handed down on Wamakko when he was in PDP last year, a similar fate was to befall Tambuwal after he attended a rally organized by the governor and the Speaker’s “open romance with the APC.”

Tambuwal was said to have described Wamakko’s suspension as “unconstitutional and (a) selfserving decision taken through undemocratic means.” But he was not touched.

Again, the party is not relenting in seeing that the 37 defected Reps either return to the party or have their seats declared vacant. The party reportedly wrote Tambuwal to declare their seats vacant, but Tambuwal said he would not do that, saying he would rather seek legal advice on that.

The party has sued Tambuwal on Monday not to allow the defected lawmakers make any contribution in the House let alone change the leadership, as they are planning to do.

But as all these are happening, Tambuwal is yet to say a word in what many believe would be a strategy to prepare ahead of time. While some say the Speaker will defect to APC as soon as the House resumes next week, others believe the man may defer the action to a more suitable time.