Despite that the House of Representatives
is currently on recess, Hon. Aminu
Tambuwal’s seat as Speaker of the House
has become heavily threatened following
his defection to the All Progressives
Congress, APC, from the ruling Peoples’ Democratic party, PDP. This is as the PDP
caucus in the lower chamber of the
National Assembly on Wednesday met to
plot how the party could regain the
leadership of the legislature it lost due to
the defection. However, the lawmakers acknowledged
in the meeting, which started late on
Tuesday night in Abuja and ended in the
wee hours of yesterday, that it would not
be an easy ride for them to unseat
Tambuwal, in view of the support he enjoys among his colleagues and the
inability of PDP members to muster the
required two-third majority to force him
out as Speaker. New Telegraph quotes a source privy to
deliberations at the PDP House caucus
meeting as disclosing that among the
options considered was the summoning
of an emergency meeting of the House
before the December 3 resumption date, supposedly to receive the 2015 budget
proposal. It was gathered that
reconvening the House before the
December 3 was one of the options
discussed at the meeting between the
PDP National Working Committee (NWC) and members of the PDP in the House as
a way of forcing Tambuwal to resign or be
impeached. DailyPost recalls that Tambuwal had
adjourned further sittings of the House
until December 3 to enable members
participate in their parties’ primaries
ahead of the 2015 general election. He
was smart enough to notify his colleagues of his membership of the APC before
hitting the gravel signaling the
adjournment of the House. However, the
PDP NWC, which swiftly met with party
members in the House after Tambuwal
announced his defection at plenary on Tuesday, issued a statement calling on
the speaker to “do the needful.” The source explained that it was mulled
for President Goodluck Jonathan to write
the House that he intends to present the
2015 Appropriation Bill in November to
enable the lawmakers to pass it before
proceeding on Christmas break. It was calculated that the Speaker would ignore
the letter on the pretext that the House
was on break, thus allowing PDP
lawmakers to cash in on his refusal to
collect signatures from their members to
get the required one third to reconvene the House. With 188 members in the
House, the PDP believes it will be able to
collect enough signatures to meet the
one-third requirement, which is 120 of
the 360-member House. Although the new House Standing Orders
do not make provision for convening an
emergency session, the PDP wants to
capitalize on the general provision of
quorum for plenary sittings to execute its
agenda. Order IV Rule 16 (1) states that “the quorum of the House shall not be less
than one-third of all the members of the
House.” The source continued: “So many options
were tabled at the meeting but members
told the leadership of the party (PDP) that
it would be difficult to impeach
Tambuwal. However, one option that was
explored was to try to reopen the House before December 3 to receive the budget
proposal. The idea is that the presidency,
will in the letter state that since we are
going into an election year, it is a matter
of urgent national importance that the
budget be submitted in November so that it can be passed in December.” The source was, however, optimistic that
the plan would not work because majority
of the lawmakers had resolved that
Tambuwal would remain as Speaker till
the end of their tenure. “This too will not
work because it is the decision of majority of us that we should not
destabilize the House. ”In fact, come to think of it, even at the
meeting the speaker was being fed with
what was going on minute by minute. So,
we know that it is a near impossible
plot,” the source, who is a House member,
added. Meanwhile, amid the calls for Tambuwal
to resign, Deputy Chairman, House
Committee on Media and Public Affairs,
Hon. Victor Ogene, has noted that only the
court could remove the Speaker. Hear
him, “it is common knowledge that following the defection of 37 members of
the House in December 2013, from the
PDP to APC, there has been multiple court
cases on the matter, thus rendering it
subjudice to discuss any likely outcome.” While warning those making disparaging
comments about Tambuwal’s defection to
desist, he asserted that no one can
regulate activities of the lower chamber
from outside. He added, “Everyone is thus
enjoined to await a final judicial pronouncement on the issue of defection,
which has afflicted virtually all political
parties in the land.
“Concerning calls for Mr. Speaker to step
down from the position, which his
colleagues freely elected him to on June 6, 2011, we wish to reaffirm, even with
the pains of almost sounding
monotonous, that the speakership of the
House of Representatives, or indeed, any
other national elective position, belongs
to the generality of Nigerians, and not the political platforms upon which such
leaders emerge,” said Ogene. However, Tambuwal, yesterday, made his
first appearance as an APC stalwart at the
party’s extra-ordinary national convention
to amend its constitution. He was at the
event formally admitted to the party and
was handed his membership card. Also at the convention, APC National Chairman,
Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, listed reasons
why Nigerians should end PDP’s 16-year
rule by voting the ruling party out in 2015. Send your press release/articles to:
newsdesk@dailypost.com.ng

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There is a crack in the wall already

@op the post is too long.
If I didn't careless on this APshit and PDP bullshit they call politics I could have fully read and commented something meaning.
Smh I pity the youth, these old bulls keep recycling themselves calling one ruling while the other is opposition and the e-worrios call others gullible smh pot calling kettle black.

What are they waiting for.










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tambuawa is the final puzzle in the chess game.. watch out for the moles in both parties