Tambuwal’s 3 years of ‘opposition’ within the ruling party Aminu Waziri Tambuwal has clocked three years as Speaker of the House of Representatives. Our correspondent recalls the circumstances that threw him up as Speaker and how it has affected his leade

During the same period also, the House held an unprecedented special session on Sunday 8th January, 2012 after Nigeria was plunged into crisis and mass street protest following removal of subsidies on petroleum products by the Federal Government. The Speaker summoned a session where key resolutions were passed which included calls for the reversal of the fuel price hike, suspension of the industrial action by the labour unions and investigation into the fraud-tinted subsidy regime.

The probe went on, many startling revelations were made when mind-boggling figures of N2.6 trillion was discovered to have been illegally spent by the government on payment of fuel subsidies in just one year.

Again, in early June 2012, El-Sudi which also uncovered more than N8 trillion probe in the capital market which led to its collapse five year ago.

Other notable investigations include that of Single Windows Systems probe for the Nigerian Customs Service, the infamous $1.1 billion Mala oil deal among others.

But in all these, as the Speaker acknowledged in his speech on June 6 marking the three years of the current House, he said the major problem has been that of non-implementation of its resolutions by the executive which it once describes as “mere expression of opinion.”

In 2012 during democracy day lecture, precisely on May 28, Tambuwal and President Goodluck Jonathan squared up when the speaker accused Jonathan of refusing to assent to over 40 bills passed by the National Assembly, coupled with hundreds of resolutions among

He said the executive is desirous of a National Assembly that will merely rubberstamp draft budgets submitted to it.

He further raised alarm over a new dimension the executive arm is taking in its latest and desperate moves to thwart the legislature by using courts to stop the House from performing its constitutional responsibilities.

“During the session, we witnessed the dawn of a disturbing trend whereby people now go to court to stop the National Assembly from exercising its constitutional mandate and conducting its internal operations. This is unheard of in jurisdictions where genuine democracy is practiced and venerated. The usual democratic practice is that the powers of the courts are activated to challenge laws enacted by the legislature,” Tambuwal said.

According to him, “this is an encroachment on the powers