The long-anticipated defection of Hon. Aminu
Tambuwal from PDP to APC has robbed the ruling
party of its claim to the number four position in
the country. PDP is expected to push back
through various means to challenge Tambuwal’s
right to hold on to both his legislative seat (which
he won on the platform of PDP) and the officeof
the Speaker. Essentially, there are four options
available to PDP in the wake of this recent
development.
Instigate Impeachment
One of the options is to instigate Tambuwal’s
impeachment.But how realistic is this option? As
a start, there are constitutional requirementsto be
met before an impeachmentprocess can sail
through. According to Section 50 (2) (c) of the
1999 Constitution, the Senate President or the
Speaker ceases to occupy that position:“if he is
removed from officeby 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.” The
implication is that a minimum of 240 members
(two-third) of the 360 members have to vote in
favour of his removal as the Speaker. At the
moment,PDP has 188 members and APC has 160
members, while other minority parties combined
have 12 members. Evenif the PDP gets the 12
members of the minority parties to join forces
with it, it would only make it 200 votes. And the
Speaker needs only 121 votes to remain as
Speaker. This is clearly not option that PDP can
pull through as it is inconceivable that APC
members will not vote to save their new man.
Challenge His Right to Speakership
The PDP can decide to go to court for
interpretation on Tambuwal’s eligibility to continue
to preside as Speaker of the House being a
member of the opposition. But the Constitution is
not specific on the party of the presiding officer
as the only condition given is to be a member of
the House. The House Rules is also silent on the
party of the Speaker. In Section 50 (1) (b), the
Constitution states that:“There shall be:a Speaker
and a Deputy Speaker of the House of
Representatives,who shall be elected by the
members of that House from among themselves.”
While the PDP may ask the court to interpretthe
intentionof the framers of that Section (since it
might not be conceivable that an opposition
member would be elected Speaker in the first
instanceexcept by mutual consent), it is however
doubtful if this option can be pushed through
because the constitutional provision is non-
ambiguous.
The PDP might also appeal to morality by saying it
is immoral for someone to be elected Speaker on
the platform of a party and keep the position after
crossing to another party. It is doubtful if
Tambuwal will be swayed by this argument. If he
would, he would have stepped aside in the first
instance.
Declare His Seat Vacant
Another option is to declare his seat vacant,
which will allow the PDP to kill two birds with one
stone:
get him out of the House (at least temporarily)
and remove him as Speaker (as he needs to be a
member of the House to be the Speaker). But this
move will call for clear interpretation of the
Constitution. In Section 68 (1) (g), the 1999
Constitution says “A member of the Senate or of
the House of Representativesshall vacate his seat
in the House of which he is a member if- – Being
a person whose election to the House was
sponsored by a political party, he becomes a
member of another political party before the
expiration of the period for which that House was
elected; provided that his membershipof the latter
political party is not as a result of a division in the
political party of which he was previously member
or of a merger of two or more political parties or
factions by one of which he was previously
sponsored”. While the PDP can ask that
Tambuwal should vacate his seat for defecting,
Tambuwal can argue that he defected because of
crisis and division in the PDP in Sokoto, his home
state. He can claim that this was responsible for
the reconciliatory meeting held by ChiefTony
Anenih only last week in an attempt to broker
peace. The two parties will be expected to test
this in court.
Make the House Ungovernable
The last option is for the PDP to empower its
foot-soldiers to make the House ungovernable for
the Speaker by instigating one form of crisis or
the other. There could be drama around the
mace, parallel sessions and accusations. Given
that most members are now more interested in
securing their return tickets, this could work
either way. The members could either be ready to
do anything to get return tickets or they could be
distracted by local politics in their constituencies.
In any case, Tambuwal seems to have bought
himselfa breather by adjourning seating till
December 3. Whichever of these options the
ruling parties decides to pursue,one thing is
certain: there are interesting days ahead.
MetropoleMag

Should he refuse to do the needful, he will be physically bundled out of the seat, the demo- CRAZY way.

I wish i have power to snuff life out of politicians at will. Bastardasos always thinking of themselves

This is the problem with Nigerian politicians

As a lawful citizen Tambuwal should know the rules and resign voluntarily as soon as he made the choice to leave PDP.

Why are Nigerians so uncivilised?

hmmm......politricks

He'll be handled personally.

Trust PDP on this.

mikeansy:
This is the problem with Nigerian politicians

As a lawful citizen Tambuwal should know the rules and resign voluntarily as soon as he made the choice to leave PDP.

Why are Nigerians so uncivilised?

And what should happen to mimiko that defected to PDP?

jamace:
Should he refuse to do the needful, he will be physically bundled out of the seat, the demo- CRAZY way.

U just hit it there. Tambuwal will never be allowed to remain as speaker. Remember the house rowdiness that forced out etteht.I see it reoccurring. A minority can never preside over the house

latestsunny:

And what should happen to mimiko that defected to PDP?

Mimiko's case is different. The constitution was only specific about the national assembly members and not governors.

As in this part:

In Section 68 (1) (g), the 1999
Constitution says “A member of the Senate or of the House of Representatives shall vacate his seat in the House of which he is a member if- – Being a person whose election to the House was sponsored by a political party, he becomes a member of another political party before the expiration of the period for which that House was elected; provided that his membershipof the latter political party is not as a result of a division in the political party of which he was previously member or of a merger of two or more political parties or factions by one of which he was previously
sponsored”

mikeansy:
This is the problem with Nigerian politicians
As a lawful citizen Tambuwal should know the rules and resign voluntarily as soon as he made the choice to leave PDP.
Why are Nigerians so uncivilised?

Where was it stated in the constitution that it is unlawful for the speaker or senate president of the house to defect? Because there has never been such scenario until now doesn't make it unlawful.

I think PDP's best shot is to challenge the speaker in court, using Section 68 (1) (g), the 1999 Constitution as a point. Which is not certain they'll win with the division in the Sokoto PDP chapter.

It seems the speaker did a thorough assignment before taking this action.
Who knows, the PDP might be smarter. They are all politicians anyway.

For clarification if my previous post is not clear

I am saying Tambuwal should step down voluntarily as speaker because he was speaker by virtue of being in the majority party in the house! Now that he is no longer in PDP that is no longer true and he can't continue as speaker

He can continue however as a floor member in the house until PDP approach the courts to declare his seat vacant!

He has the option to step down voluntarily, if he prefers to be a gentle man(which I doubt) or not. But NEVER a MUST, because no law is against his defection as a speaker.

Please tell me who tambuwal is? Please. Who was he yesterday that he has 3 threads today? I inderstand he was in the senate but most nigerians can't name their zones rep and for good reason; They're nobody. It's onky in nigeria that we like to say people's name like this. It's not by force that everyone becomes a star. Wuen the prophet muhammed defected to apc nobody made noise

If you ask me, this guy sabi maths. Him particularly sabi permutations and combinations.

*I mean to say that all these options have been carefully taken care of, except if PDP iڪ bringing a different options from these

Wait make I charge ma phn

PDP is already counting down for him. They bundle him out of that seat is he refuse to do the needful.

Sad as it may seem for PDP, that seat is gone. By the time plenary resumes in December, they will be preoccupied with preparations for elections. PDP's best shot will be to destabilize the house. This Tambuwal guy knows permutation. We await PDP's combination skill.

i forsee a situation where two speakers wud emerge in the house. A PDP speaker and Tambuwal. Lets brace up for a Mother of all crisis in the House. I will only advice Tambuwal to resign because at the end of the impending battle his political career would be in serious jeopardy. He might even loose his seat. You cant be in the minority party and still want to hold on to the speakership position its unconstitutional.

Section 68 (1) (g) remains PDP's surest option but not without scheming for more defection plots from APC to PDP in the house before launching the section against Tambuwwal. I see the mole losing big time no doubt!

What is actually wrong with APC holding the position of the number 4 position in the country?
Can PDP urchins provide Nigerians with the dividends of democracy they promised instead of trying to witch hunt Tambuwal?
Jonathan and his selfish interest. Smh

This is pure common sense, you can't be in the minority party and decide to hold on as a speaker of house. A minority can't rule over majority in a democracy. Let him step down and content himself with only being heard as a minority that he is. If he refuses to step down, he will be asking for anarchy.

PaulJohn1:


Mimiko's case is different. The constitution was only specific about the national assembly members and not governors.

As in this part:




Where was it stated in the constitution that it is unlawful for the speaker or senate president of the house to defect? Because there has never been such scenario until now doesn't make it unlawful.

I think PDP's best shot is to challenge the speaker in court, using Section 68 (1) (g), the 1999 Constitution as a point. Which is not certain they'll win with the division in the Sokoto PDP chapter.

It seems the speaker did a thorough assignment before taking this action.
Who knows, the PDP might be smarter. They are all politicians anyway.

On what basis should the same rule not apply to mimiko and his state house of assembly members? If the rule doesn't affect mimiko, are his butt-licking state house members also free ?

latestsunny:




On what basis should the same rule not apply to mimiko and his state house of assembly members? If the rule doesn't affect mimiko, are his butt-licking state house members also free ?

I don't think they are. But as for governor, forget it.

mikeansy:
For clarification if my previous post is not clear

I am saying Tambuwal should step down voluntarily as speaker because he was speaker by virtue of being in the majority party in the house!
Now that he is no longer in PDP that is no longer true and he can't continue as speaker

He can continue however as a floor member in the house until PDP approach the courts to declare his seat vacant!

no sir! he was not speaker because he was supported by the majority party.

in fact, he was speaker because he was supported by the minority parties.

the majority party supported someone else in the name of Mulikat.

Tambuwal emerged speaker by the support of the minority parties members.

Pls don't revise history, recent history at that.

Having put that straight, my wish is for what is just to prevail.

cola:



no sir! he was not speaker because he was supported by the majority party.

in fact, he was speaker because he was supported by the minority parties.

the majority party supported someone else in the name of Mulikat.

Tambuwal emerged speaker by the support of the minority parties member.

Pls don't revise history, recent history at that.

Having put that straight, my wish is for what is just to prevail.

BROS HE WAS EELCTED SPEAKER BECAUSE HEBWAS OF THE MAJORITY PDP.WHY DIDNT THE MINORITY PUT UP THEIR OWN CANDIDATES THEN

so una still de disturb una self for Nigeria politics? forget it this is a well set out plan by the pdp... tambuwal may not get the kick out expected n he's gonna win the sokoto guber seat too but in the end he'll return to pdp

Pls lets forget about that sit and focus on the important things on ground.


Their decision has never made any impact on the citizens of the this country ( correct me if i'm wrong)

Crazy old men behaving like kids.

Recall that whatever moral / constitutional argument for Tambuwal's leaving office should apply to those who have decamped to join PDP before now; both in the senate and house of rep.

Also Mimiko was left untouched after dumping his party recently.

chukwudi44:


BROS HE WAS EELCTED SPEAKER BECAUSE HEBWAS OF THE MAJORITY PDP.WHY DIDNT THE MINORITY PUT UP THEIR OWN CANDIDATES THEN

No be fight.Just Google 'election of Tambuwal as speaker'and read it for yourself.Easy.