Defection: PDP advises Tambuwal to resign as House Speaker
The National leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP,
yesterday, welcomed the defection of the Speaker of the House of
Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, to the All Progressives Congress, APC,
and advised him to resign as speaker because he was no longer a member
of the ruling party.
After almost one year of speculation and hob-nobbing with APC leaders,
Tambuwal, yesterday, formally dumped PDP for the opposition party.
Reacting to Tambuwal's defection, PDP National Publicity Secretary,
Chief Olisa Metuh, in a statement said the honourable thing for Tambuwal
now is to resign.
Metuh said: 'The National Working Committee of the Peoples Democratic
Party has met with PDP leaders in the House of Representatives
concerning the defection of the Speaker. After a thorough consideration
of the matter, the NWC came to a conclusion that the Honourable 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 Honourable 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.'
Tambuwal, who had put all his colleagues and political associates on
their toes since 2013 over where he belongs, formalized his defection to
the APC, yesterday, via a two-paragraph letter.
As soon as Leader of the House, Hon. Mulikat Akande-Adeola and the
Deputy Leader, Hon. Leo Ogor, moved for adjournment and journalists
stood up to leave the gallery, Tambuwal started reading his decampment
letter.
The Speaker waited till the end of the day's legislative business in
the House to announce his movement to the opposition party. Before the
Speaker's announcement of his decampment to the APC, the House had
passed a motion to immortalize Dr. Stella Adadevoh and compensate the
families of the health workers who died after contracting the Ebola
Virus Disease. The motion was sponsored by Olajumoke Okoya-Thomas.
Tambuwal said: 'Before I hit the gavel on the motion for adjournment, I
want to make this formal announcement to this House. Based on the
provisions of the 1999 Constitution, and having regards to the
development of PDP in my state, Sokoto State, I hereby announce my
membership with the All Progressives Congress (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.'
Deputy Leader of the House, Leo Ogor, in a swift reaction to what
transpired on the floor of the House and the threatened unity of the
Seventh Assembly said:
'What happened today was quite unexpected. But again, that decision was
a personal decision and has no major implication on our political
party. The PDP members of the House will look at the situation and take a
position in respect of the defection. He is gone, fine. And he
emphasized that his decision borders on his local politics. That is to
say borders on the interest of his people and his constituency. But, all
said and done, he came through a political party which was PDP. So, by
the provision of Section 68 (g) of the constitution, which is still
before a court of jurisdiction, we await the ruling of the court on the
matter. And I think this is one great opportunity for us to call on the
Judiciary. It is also an arm of government; justice delayed is justice
denied.
'And it is a subject matter before them, it behoves on them to make the
necessary interpretations so that we can lay this issue to rest in
respect of defection. It is extremely important. But for us as members
of the PDP, we believe that we will continue carrying on the
responsibilities of our party.
'We will watch further, and definitely will see what happens. Let's
look and see how he manages the House. We will watch him with eagle eyes
and interpret every action that he takes.'
'Let me emphasize here that the Speaker has left. Because he has gone
does not mean that the PDP does not control the House. He sits down
there as the presiding officer, we run the affairs of the House, and as
people who control the House, we must go the extra mile to protect the
interest of our party. We are not going to lose our sleep because
Tambuwal defected to the APC.
'I think we need to be mindful of the constitution. According to the
constitution, you would need a two/thirds majority to remove a sitting
speaker. Do we have two/third? That is another matter we need to ponder.
We will face the party and give our explanations, but I can assure you
that the party's interest will be fully protected.'
For now PDP has 195 members while APC has about 159 and the other parties share the remaining six seats.
In her reaction, House Majority Leader, Mulikat Akande-Adeola (PDP,
Oyo) said: 'This is a party affair. Members take decision on the floor
based on party. So, the party will take decision at the appropriate
time.' - Vanguard.
