Nnamdi Felix/Abuja A furious PDP, behaving like a woman scorned by her lover, plots the ouster of Aminu Waziri Tambuwal as Speaker of the House of Representatives in the aftermath of his defection to the opposition All Progressives Congress Although Aminu Waziri Tambuwal’s defection to the opposition All Progressives Congress, APC, had been long anticipated, the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, was rattled to its foundation, with its leadership brainstorming on strategies to remove him from office as Speaker of the House of Representatives. The first indication of how deep an injury the speaker’s defection caused the party was the speed with which the party’s national working committee met, just within minutes after he dumped the party. Tambuwal had told colleagues he was joining the APC to seek election as governor of his home state, Sokoto. To foreclose moves for political maneuvering and intrigues, the Speaker also announced the adjournment of plenary till 3 December. [caption id="attachment_13579" align="aligncenter" width="300"] •Tambuwal: Faces hostility from PDP for dumping it[/caption] Rising from the emergency meeting, the national working committee called on Tambuwal to resign as Speaker, pointing out that he only became the speaker by reason of his membership of the PDP which is the majority party at the House; and that the party has not lost that majority status. The party’s national publicity secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, urged Tambuwal to do the needful by resigning from office to enable the PDP, which commands majority in the House, to produce a new speaker: “After a thorough consideration of the matter, the NWC came to the 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” Another organ of the party, the PDP Governors’ Forum, led by Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State, also met immediately. It berated Tambuwal for dumping the party and called for his resignation as the speaker: “He should do the needful, as there is no crisis in the PDP. Right from time, Tambuwal has only been a member of PDP only by mouth. He has been associating with the opposition. The PDP is in the majority in the House and the constitution says that the speaker of the House of Representatives should come from the majority party.” Less than 24 hours after these separate meetings by these organs of the ruling party, the Presidency, mindful of the potential adverse effects of the Speaker’s defection on the political fortunes of the PDP, especially in the forthcoming elections, also convened a meeting with the leadership of the party, along with some governors and leaders of the House of Representatives, who themselves had earlier on held an emergency meeting to strategize on the procedure to adopt to challenge the speaker over his defection. The Majority Leader of the House of Representatives, Mulikat Akande-Adeola of the Oyo State chapter of the party, led other principal officers of the party in the House to the meeting at the Presidency. She was the party’s choice for Speaker in June 2011 before Tambuwal rallied forces within the PDP and other opposition parties to defeat her for the post, in contravention of the party’s zoning formula. She led the Deputy Speaker of the House, Emeka Ihedioha; the Deputy Leader, Leo Ogor; Chairman, House Committee on Health, Ndudi Elumelu, amongst others, to the meeting. Others in attendance at the meeting included the party’s national chairman, Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu, members of the national working committee, Governor Godswill Akpabio, Governors Henry Seriake-Dickson of Bayelsa, Gabriel Suswam, Benue; Ibrahim Dankwambo, Gombe; Sullivan Chime, Enugu, and the Federal Minister of Justice, Mohammed Bello Adoke. An impeccable source told this magazine in confidence that the only agenda on the table at the meeting was the strategies to adopt in tackling the upset caused the party by the defection of Tambuwal, a high ranking government official, in the face of the forthcoming general elections. Early last Thursday, just some hours after the meeting at the Presidential Villa ended, bits of the strategies adopted by the PDP leaders to deal with Tambuwal over his defection came to the fore as the President allegedly ordered the withdrawal of his security personnel. As the Number Four citizen in the hierarchy of protocol in the country, the Speaker is entitled to high-level security made up of men from the Police, Civil Defence Corps and the Department of State Security, SSS. They jointly provide security to the Speaker and his immediate family at all material time. The Acting Inspector General of Police, Suleiman Abba said he is the one that ordered the withdrawal of the security men from the Speaker. In a statement signed by Emmanuel Ojukwu, Force spokesperson, last week the police boss said the action followed the defection of the Speaker. The full statement reads: “In view of the recent defection by the Right Honourable Aminu Waziri Tanbuwal, CFR, the Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC), and having regard to the clear provision of Section 68 (1) (g) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended, the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) has redeployed its personnel attached to his office.” [caption id="attachment_13578" align="aligncenter" width="300"] •Mulikat Akande-Adeola: Led other principal officers of the House to the Presidency to strategise on how to tackle the Tambuwal upset[/caption] Critics, however challenged Abba to tell Nigerians where he derived his powers to interpret the constitution from, especially concerning a matter which is already in court. Tambuwal’s action actually caused a stir within PDP and the Presidency. And his new party gave him a rousing welcome last Wednesday, a day after his formal defection, at the extraordinary mini national convention of the APC in Abuja. He was accompanied to the convention by 160 of his APC colleagues. Constitutional lawyers argued that as the Speaker of the House of Reps and the number four citizen of the country, he is entitled to a round the clock security comprising men from the Police, Civil Defence Corps and the Department of State Security, DSS. TheNEWS learnt that stripping the Speaker of every form of protection is the first in the series of strategies adopted by the PDP juggernauts at the Villa meeting. Sources also said the PDP plots to deal Tambuwal some legal blows aimed at knocking him off the Speaker’s seat and upsetting his gubernatorial ambition in Sokoto State. The meeting last Wednesday was only the latest in a series that had been held since the Speaker upset the party’s zoning formula in 2011. Only recently, a similar one was held following speculation on an alleged plan by Tambuwal to contest the 2015 Presidential election. Series of measures aimed at extinguishing the potential challenge were put on the table for consideration. Tambuwal had jolted the PDP following the release of election guidelines by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, when he made a remark to the effect that Nigeria deserves a better leadership in 2015. The President and his handlers went into overdrive churning out strategies for checkmating him before things got completely awry for the ruling party. However, the Tambuwal’s broad-based support in the House, which defies political affiliation of the membership, has enabled him to survive several plots by forces – suspected to enjoy the backing of the Presidency and the PDP – to remove him from office. In the aftermath of the Farouk Lawan bribery scandal which rocked the House of Representatives two years ago, some members, allegedly backed by external forces, attempted to link Tambuwal to the scandal. But the move collapsed following a vote of confidence passed on the Speaker by members of the House. The Sokoto State chapter of the PDP was also instigated to expel Tambuwal for alleged anti-party activities over his romance with the opposition but that plot also failed owing largely to the Speaker’s strong connections with some influential elements in the state who protested against the move. Governor Wamakko was also said to have prevailed on the party chieftains in Tambuwal’s local government at that time, not to allow themselves be used to disturb the peace of the state. Following calls by the PDP for Tambuwal to resign and allow the party to produce another speaker from its members, stakeholders have picked holes in the party’s position. The APC, through its national publicity secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said those calling for Tambuwal’s resignation over his defection, do not have the backing of history and the constitution in their quest. He recalled that in 1983, when the NPN did not have the two-third majority in the National Assembly, it entered into an accord with NPP with which it shared the leadership of both arms of the National Assembly at that time. “When the accord concordial broke down, the then Speaker, Chief Edwin Ume Ezeoke, a member of the minority NPP, did not relinquish his position. Those who are saying this has not happened before and that Tambuwal should step aside as speaker, do not have the backing of history and the constitution,” he said. Similarly, the APC Caucus in the House, led by Femi Gbajabiamila, a lawyer, said that nothing had changed in the House as all members would work together for the advancement of the Parliament and greater good of the Nigerian people. He said Tambuwal remains not only a member of the House of Representatives, but also its Speaker, a position that is consistent with the law and practice in a presidential system of government. “For the avoidance of doubt, the constitution requires only that the Speaker or the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives shall be elected by members of that House from among themselves,” he stated. In the same vein, Chief Adegboyega Awomolo, a senior advocate, pointed out that what the constitution specifies in relation to the election of a Speaker of the House or Representatives, is that such a person must be elected from the members of the House: “The constitution did not state that the speaker must belong to a certain political party. It only states that the members must elect the speaker from amongst themselves as elected representatives of different political parties.” He added that Tambuwal became the speaker at the pleasure of the members of the House and will remain such as long as he enjoys the confidence of his fellow legislators, whether or not he belongs to the majority party. In support of these views, Chief Mike Ozekhome, another senior advocate, noted that Tambuwal need not resign on account of his defection, pointing out that his election as the Speaker was by the members of the House and that it will only take the same members to reject him as their Speaker and not the PDP. He observed that Tambuwal can still retain his office if he is able to creatively navigate his way through the shark-infested waters of the House. Mulling over the possibility of impeaching Tambuwal, the Deputy Majority Leader of the House, Leo Ogor, a PDP member, expressed concern over the ability of the party to mobilise two-thirds of the House membership to effect a regime change. “According to the constitution, you would need a two-thirds majority to remove a sitting Speaker. Do we have two-thirds? That is another matter we need to ponder over”. He however stated that he and his fellow party members in the House, will watch and keep watching to 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,” he said. For Abike Dabiri-Erewa, a member of the APC, plots to impeach Tambuwal over his defection should be discarded. “Anybody talking about impeachment should forget it. You need two-third majority to impeach him. The majority elected him as the Speaker and the majority will keep him as the Speaker. The minority cannot impeach him,” she said. [caption id="attachment_13577" align="aligncenter" width="207"] •Akpabio: His PDP Governors’ Forum called for Tambuwal’s resignation[/caption] To impeach Tambuwal as the Speaker of the House, the PDP would require 240 out of the 360 members to agree on the move. Currently, it leads with 189, while the APC has 159 members, with other smaller opposition parties having the remaining slots. Any impeachment move would mean that the PDP must reach out to APC members for support, as well as convince members of the smaller parties to back the removal. This may prove a difficult nut to crack. Added to the above scenario is the fact that by the time the House reconvenes in December, campaigns for next year’s elections would have peaked and members would be busy in their respective constituencies mobilising for their governorship, senatorial and representatives’ aspirations. This will add to the difficulties which the PDP will have to surmount if it decides to follow Tambuwal’s removal to its logical conclusion.