SPEAKER ANIMU TAMBUWAL LEAVES PDP FOR APC
Can PDP Force Him Out Of House Speakership Position?
-Attorney Patryk Utulu

The Speaker of House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal has officially decamped from party PDP to party APC. This fact is not in dispute. It is also not disputed that Aminu Tambuwal was elected Speaker under the aegis of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The vexing issue is whether he should resign the Speaker-ship now that he is no longer a member of PDP.

Nigerian Constitution 1999 Section 50 (1) - (2) are OK but still quite fuzzy:

Sec 50 (1) (b) says "...a Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the House....shall be elected by the members of that House from among themselves."

Sec 50 (2) (a-c) says "...a Speaker shall vacate his office
(a) if he ceases to be a member...of the House of Representatives or,as the case may be, otherwise than by reason of a dissolution of the....House; OR
(b) when the House of which he was a member first sits after any dissolution of that House; OR
(c) if he is removed from office by a resolution of the...House...as the case may be, by the votes of not less than two-thirds majority of the....House.

OK, FORGET PARTISAN NONSENSE FOR NOW. HERE ARE THE ONLY 2 QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER:

1. Does the Nigerian House of Representatives have "supplemental" rules for election/tenure/removal of Speaker? If yes, what do the rules say?
2. If no, then how do you end a Speakership under/using Sec 50 (2) (a-c)?

Unless Mr. Tambuwal voluntarily resigns his Speakership when the House of Representatives returns from recess the fate of his Speakership will be determined on the two questions immediately above....and nothing else.

ADDENDUM:
SOME OF YOU HAVE ASKED ABOUT "THAT PART OF THE CONSTITUTION REGARDING LOSING YOUR SEAT." I BELIEVE YOU ARE REFERRING TO SECTION 68 (1). I DID NOT INCLUDE IT IN MY ORIGINAL ARTICLE BECAUSE SECTION 68 (1) DOES NOT APPLY TO SPEAKERSHIP.

Section 68 (1) relates to cases of "vacating seat." That is, cases involving a member completely leaving the House of Representatives. No one (not even PDP) is talking about booting Tambuwal from the House of Representatives. Law is about issues. The issue -- and only issue - is whether he can take his Speakership with him to APC having been elected (by his House colleagues) to the Speakership as a member of PDP.

You can still support your political party but this is about law. To really understand the issue you must first aside your partisan sentiment. Tambuwal probably got legal advice (and he is a lawyer too) so he carefully ensured that Section 68(1) WILL NOT apply to him. How? Why?

READ SECTION 68 (1)(g) and you will see why Tambuwal waited till the end of this Legislative Session BEFORE he switched to another party.

Attorney Patryk A. Utulu
U.S.-based Attorney & Strategic Communications Specialist
Global Defense Analyst and Global Events Commentator
Executive Vice President, Nigerian Diaspora-North America
Executive Director, The Center for Community Empowerment & Lifeskills, Inc
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Very funny how people ignore the underlying issue - that you're first a member of a political party before a legislator.
The answer is:
YES
While the PDP can't directly (except they mobilise a majority vote against him) throw him down from the speaker position, they can, and I dare say will, declare his constituency seat vacant thus denying him even entrance to the national assembly. Trust the clerk will have no option than obey.
The constitution is very clear and needs no further interpretation except you're illiterate, You LOSE YOUR SEAT ONCE YOU LEAVE YOUR PARTY except where there's a division. Its long been settled that there's no division in the PDP.
Sanusi's case wasn't even as clear...*sighs * Even intelligent Nigerians keep pretending as though they don't know...anyway, maybe out of personal interests

Mr American lawyer, you quoted well but not wholly. Where is the part of the law that deals with decamping from a party and loosing the seat?

No

The Speaker of the House of Representatives is the Presiding officer of the House of Representatives of Nigeria. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, the current speaker, was elected on June 6, 2011 under the platform of the PDP. Now, the majority PDP dominated House should not allow an opposition party member preside on their platform. That in itself is alien in the history of the NASS; that a member of the opposition would preside over the ruling party dominated House. The 7th Assembly must not be an exception. It must be resisted by PDP.

My humble submission...!!!

tinkinjow:
Very funny how people ignore the underlying issue - that you're first a member of a political party before a legislator.
The answer is:
YES
While the PDP can't directly (except they mobilise a majority vote against him) throw him down from the speaker position, they can, and I dare say will, declare his constituency seat vacant thus denying him even entrance to the national assembly. Trust the clerk will have no option than obey.
The constitution is very clear and needs no further interpretation except you're illiterate, You LOSE YOUR SEAT ONCE YOU LEAVE YOUR PARTY except where there's a division. Its long been settled that there's no division in the PDP.
Sanusi's case wasn't even as clear...*sighs * Even intelligent Nigerians keep pretending as though they don't know...anyway, maybe out of personal interests

Then the same will apply to APGA AND LP members that just decamped to PDP

tinkinjow:
Very funny how people ignore the underlying issue - that you're first a member of a political party before a legislator.
The answer is:
YES
While the PDP can't directly (except they mobilise a majority vote against him) throw him down from the speaker position, they can, and I dare say will, declare his constituency seat vacant thus denying him even entrance to the national assembly. Trust the clerk will have no option than obey.
The constitution is very clear and needs no further interpretation except you're illiterate, You LOSE YOUR SEAT ONCE YOU LEAVE YOUR PARTY except where there's a division. Its long been settled that there's no division in the PDP.
Sanusi's case wasn't even as clear...*sighs * Even intelligent Nigerians keep pretending as though they don't know...anyway, maybe out of personal interests

@bolded part, he said in one article that there was division in his former party. The National Working Commitee visited his state. He said if there wasn't any division, the NWC won't have border visiting his state and constituency.

All I can say is Nigerian law depends on who it is affecting.

Go find out the state PDP is in Sokoto State.

CharlesPhc:
The Speaker of the House of Representatives is the Presiding officer of the House of Representatives of Nigeria. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, the current speaker, was elected on June 6, 2011 under the platform of the PDP. Now, the majority PDP dominated House should not allow an opposition party member preside on their platform. That in itself is alien in the history of the NASS; that a member of the opposition would preside over the ruling party dominated House. The 7th Assembly must not be an exception. It must be resisted by PDP.

My humble submission...!!!

I want to believe you were born after 1983. Go back to to the history books and you will learn that Hon. Edwin Ume Ezeoke from NPP, was from a minority party, and was the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
What was Papa Annenih doing in Sokoto? Trying to reconcile members of the state PDP, meaning there was a division within the party. The act of reconciliations by the BOT Chairman of the PDP has inadvertently vindicated the Speaker of HOR on the point that, there is division within the party in the state. The constitution recognises this as a cogent reason, to warrant defection.

ADDENDUM:
SOME OF YOU HAVE ASKED ABOUT "THAT PART OF THE CONSTITUTION REGARDING LOSING YOUR SEAT." I BELIEVE YOU ARE REFERRING TO SECTION 68 (1). I DID NOT INCLUDE IT IN MY ORIGINAL ARTICLE BECAUSE SECTION 68 (1) DOES NOT APPLY TO SPEAKERSHIP.

Section 68 (1) relates to cases of "vacating seat." That is, cases involving a member completely leaving the House of Representatives. No one (not even PDP) is talking about booting Tambuwal from the House of Representatives. Law is about issues. The issue -- and only issue - is whether he can take his Speakership with him to APC having been elected (by his House colleagues) to the Speakership as a member of PDP.

You can still support your political party but this is about law. To really understand the issue you must first aside your partisan sentiment. Tambuwal probably got legal advice (and he is a lawyer too) so he carefully ensured that Section 68(1) WILL NOT apply to him. How? Why?

READ SECTION 68 (1)(g) and you will see why Tambuwal waited till the end of this Legislative Session BEFORE he switched to another party.

Canme4u:



@bolded part, he said in one article that there was division in his former party. The National Working Commitee visited his state. He said if there wasn't any division, the NWC won't have border visiting his state and constituency.

Tambuwal is a liar. PDP committee that visited his state where on a mission to unify PDP members in all the north west. It wasn't only sokoto they visited. PDP sets up six committees to visit the six ego political zones of the country to prepare members for the 2015 elections. One of the committees headed by Aneni visited sokoto as they did the other north western states. They were not in sokoto to reconcile a Tambuwal imaginary faction.

Fire15:

I want to believe you were born after 1983. Go back to to the history books and you will learn that Hon. Edwin Ume Ezeoke from NPP, was from a minority party, and was the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
What was Papa Annenih doing in Sokoto? Trying to reconcile members of the state PDP, meaning there was a division within the party. The act of reconciliations by the BOT Chairman of the PDP has inadvertently vindicated the Speaker of HOR on the point that, there is division within the party in the state. The constitution recognises this as a cogent reason, to warrant defection.

Edwin ume Ezeoke was speaker of the house in the second republic(1979 -1983), based on the Accord the majority party, NPN entered into with Ezeoke's NPP. The NPN were unable to meet the constitutional requirement to form the government in 1979. So they entered into an alliance with NPP, the party that came third in the election. In fact the NPP also produced the deputy senate president on the strength of that agreement. If the opposition is ordinarily entitled to it, why was the party that came second, the UPN not given the position?
Papa Aneni committee did not visit sokoto alone. They were touring the north west states to unify the party ahead 2015 election.

Patryk or Patrick.

Nigeria is d way it is bc we allow sentiment becloud our sense of reasoning and judgement. According to Nigeria constitution the speaker of d HOR or President of d senate is not elected base on party affiliation or which party has the largest member, we should get that right. The constitution says they will elected someone from among them. The contention should b whether Tambuwal after defecting to another party can still remain as a member of d HOR and not whether he can remain as speaker. As long as he is a member of d house he has d right to remain d speaker except 2/3 of d house impeach him. PDP should not take d law into their hand rather they should go to court and prove there is no division in Sokoto PDP and ask d court to declare d slot of his constituency in d HOR vacant. Any other thing done by PDP is illegality and a bastardization of d constitution. Also d PDP should stand on a high moral ground by asking all the members of d state HOA including d speaker in Ondo State who decamp from Labour party to PDP to vacate their membership of d HOA, Then and only then will they v d moral standing to pursue Tambuwal's case to a logical conclusion without making the entire world think they remember what d constitution says when it affects their selfish interest. Lets build this Democrasy with proper understanding and application of d constitution.

luv2talk:

Then the same will apply to APGA AND LP members that just decamped to PDP

Sure, the same applies to any member that defects. What you must note however is that the party which the member defects from must be initiate such action.