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| Tambuwal, Speaker of the House of Rep |
The national leadership of the Peoples Democratic
Party is pushing for the resignation of the Speaker of the House of
Representatives, Mallam Aminu Tambuwal, who defected to the All Progressives
Congress on Tuesday.
Tambuwal had during plenary told his colleagues
that he heeded the calls of members of his constituency to dump the PDP.
He also claimed that certain developments in the
Sokoto State chapter of the PDP suggested that he could no longer continue to
be a PDP member.
The Speaker said, “Based on the provision
of the
1999 Constitution, and having regard to the development of the PDP in my own
state, Sokoto, I hereby announce my membership of the APC.
“Let me register my profound appreciation to all
of you my colleagues for the unflinching support you have continued to extend
to me for the overall national interest and development of our democracy.
“May Almighty God continue to guide us all.”
The defection ended months of speculation over
his political future. It also threw up questions on whether he would resign as
speaker, be impeached or remain in office.
Under Section 50(2)(c) of the 1999 Constitution
(as amended), a presiding officer of the National Assembly can only be
impeached if two-thirds of the members approve it.
The section reads, “The President or
Deputy President of the Senate or the Speaker or Deputy Speaker of the House of
Representatives shall vacate his office -
(c) if he is removed from office by a resolution
of the Senate or of the House of Representatives, as the case may be, by the
votes of not less than two-thirds majority of the members of that House.’’
In the case of the House where there are 360
lawmakers, this means 240 members will have to sign to remove Tambuwal.
At the moment, the PDP has less than 200 members.
House Deputy Leader, Mr. Leo Ogor, admitted that
it would be a Herculean task for the PDP to spearhead Tambuwal’s impeachment.
“Do we have two-thirds majority? We don’t have
two-thirds to remove the speaker,” Ogor said in a brief chat with The PUNCH.
A professor of Law, Itse Sagay, said that the PDP
had no constitutional basis to impeach Tambuwal.
Sagay, who is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, added
that the constitution allowed any politician to defect from his party once,
there is division amongst its members.
Sagay said, “The constitution allows you to
defect from the party under which you were elected to another one if there is
division amongst members of that party, and clearly there was division in the
PDP. You will recall that during the PDP congress, a second group was formed
and they went into another hall and declared their own leadership in another
hall; clearly this is a continuation of that division. So I don’t see the basis
on which anyone can impeach him.”
Another lawyer, Mr. Fred Agbaje, toed the same
line with Sagay. Agbaje, who noted that there had been evidence of division in
the PDP said, Tambuwal’s defection was justified by the constitution.
“What the constitution says is that you can only
defect if the party where you are coming from is no longer together, if things
are no longer at ease, particularly where that party has been factionalised and
you don’t know which way to go,” he added.
In spite of the position of the constitution on
the removal of presiding officers of the National Assembly, Metuh,
told journalists in Abuja that members of the PDP National Working Committee
had already discussed Tambuwal’s defection with PDP leaders in the
House.
He said, “After a thorough consideration of the
matter, the NWC came to a conclusion that the Hon. Speaker, as a responsible
elected officer, knows full well what is needful and honourable of him since
his new party is in the minority.
“We are not unmindful of the fact that Hon.
Tambuwal became Speaker on the platform of the PDP as the political party with
the majority of seats in the House of Representatives and that this
incontrovertible fact has not changed.”
It was gathered that the party might
push for his impeachment if he refused to resign.
The House Leader, Mulikat Akande-Adeola, had said
that the PDP would decide what next to do regarding the defection of the
speaker.
“This is a party affair. Members take decisions
on the floor based on party. So, the party (PDP) will take decision at the
appropriate time.’’
It’s a historic decision –APC caucus
Jubilant members of the APC caucus in the House,
who described Tambuwal’s defection as historic, dared the PDP, saying there was
no constitutional provision requiring that the majority party must produce the
speaker.
The Minority Leader, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila,
said at a news conference that Tambuwal’s defection did not alter
the fact that he remained a member of the House and the speaker.
He said, “The constitution is very clear on this;
it says the members shall elect from among themselves, a speaker.”
The Minority Leader stated that Tambuwal would
continue to preside over the House because he was a “bridge builder and a
speaker for all members.”
Gbajabiamila said, “Tambuwal has been a Speaker
for all the members, all the political parties and for all Nigerians and will
so continue.
“As a caucus, we pledge our continued support to
the current leadership of the House of Representatives.
“We will not do anything to destabilise the
institution of the House of Representatives, so that it will continue to
deliver on the mandates given to its members by Nigerians.
“More than ever before there is a need for
vigilance and focus on the concerns of the Nigerian people who elected all of
us.”
The APC also dared the PDP to try to
impeach Tambuwual
Its National Publicity Secretary, Lai
Mohammed , said “Let them try it (impeachment ) if they think they have the
number. But, let them first tell us which law Tambuwal has broken by his
action.
“This is not the first time this kind of scenario
is unfolding. If you remember, there was an arrangement between the then
National Party of Nigeria and the Nigerian Peoples Party which
produced the late Edwin Ume -Ezeoke, who was from the NPP and the late Wash Pam
then the deputy Senate President and when eventually the accord collapsed,
Umezeoke continued as speaker and Pam continued as deputy Senate
President.”
Tambuwal had for long associated with the APC
behind the scenes but pledging in the open to remain a PDP member. He
consistently stayed away from critical PDP meetings and other state functions.
However, last week, he openly attended an APC
stakeholders’ meeting in Sokoto, where the state Governor, Aliyu Wamakko,
presided.
The speaker emerged from the meeting to say that
he attended a meeting of his “political family” to decide on the future of the
state.
The Sokoto meeting proved that it was a matter of
time before the speaker defected to the APC.
At a point, Tambuwal was rumoured to be a
possible APC presidential candidate.
But, lately, there were indications that he is
more likely to be picked as the party’s governorship candidate in Sokoto State.
The party has already zoned the governorship
ticket to Sokoto-South Senatorial District, Tambuwal’s area.
Source: Punchng.com
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