• Speaker accused of subverting Jonathan, 2015 budget
FRESH insight has been given into why the personnel of the Nigeria Police, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and other security agencies attached to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, were withdrawn.
All protocols and perks of office usually attached to theoffice of the speaker have also been withdrawn from Tambuwal. While the security agencies would neither stop Tambuwal from staying in the official residence or entering the office of the speaker for now, they would only extend protocols available to a member of the House of Representatives to him.
As far as law enforcement agencies are concerned, Tambuwal, by defecting from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC), has ceased to be the speaker of the House of Representatives. The announced position of the police has alarmed the APC, other politicians and their civil society group allies. But in security circles in Abuja, Alhaji Tambuwal’s defection and hold on the Speakership of the House of Representatives is not an issue to be left for politicians alone as to them, it poses a threat to Nigeria’s constitutionalism, political stability and development.
An alleged plot to subvert 2015 budget
He is being accused in security and political circles in Abuja of planning to subvert the 2015 budget preparation, presentation and consideration, fomenting political instability in the polity and being a pawn in a plot by the APC to win the 2015 presidential elections.
They allege that in the last two and half years, Tambuwal had “abdicated” his role as the Number Four in the nation’s protocol list as he has been avoiding attending Federal Government official functions.
Viewed as part of a larger plot to lock down the activities of the House of Representatives and thereby stop the smooth running of the Federal Government, the withdrawal was a “pre-emptive” action to stop the lockdown affecting nation’s budgeting process and also ensure that the House does not slide into anarchy by the time it reconvenes.
The Guardian was told at the weekend in Abuja by several sources that Tambuwal was “deliberately creating instability in the smooth running of the Federal Government system and at the same time planning to benefit from it.”
To them, by locking down the House to the adjourned date of December 3, Tambuwal has launched a new platform in his fight for the 2015 elections by “effectively” suspending action on the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) which forms the basis for the preparation of the nation’s annual budget, the presentation and consideration of the 2015 budget and deliberations on other issues of national importance.
And they insist that part of the plan of the Tambuwal group is to reconvene on December 3 and if the environment is “charged as it might be”, adjourn the House again.
Part of the agenda behind the adjournment to December 3, a source alleged, was to recruit non-returnee members of the PDP caucus in the House who may have lost primary nomination to his side in the battle to remain speaker. He would then use the platform of the House to launch scathing attacks and initiate issues to derail President Jonathan’s ambition for second term.
A threat to president’s reelection ambition
In fact, his remaining as speaker is a threat to the president’s second term ambition. They added that his remaining in office was part of the grand plan of the APC to have another plank to win next year’s presidential elections, a means of using legislative agenda to achieve a pre-determined end to the 2015 presidential contest.
But while security agencies, the Presidency and PDP operatives worry about his move to APC, defection seems to be part of Tambuwal’s political history since he emerged in 2003 in his first elective position to the House of Representatives as the member representing Kebbe/Tambuwal Federal Constituency of Sokoto State.
He first learnt the legislative ropes from 1999 to 2000 as Personal Assistant on Legislative Affairs to Senator Abdullahi Wali, the then Senate Leader, a member of the PDP. Originally elected into the House of Representatives on the platform of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), Tambuwal defected to the Democratic Peoples’ Party (PDP) few months to the 2007 general elections, alongside the former Governor of Sokoto State, Attahiru Bafarawa.
But when the DPP denied return tickets to former ANPP legislators, Tambuwal swung back to the ANPP, where he eventually succeeded in picking up a ticket for the election. But then again, when the ANPP governorship candidate for Sokoto State in the 2007 election, Wamakko dumped the DPP for the PDP, Tambuwal also followed suit. He became speaker of the House on June 5, 2011 on the platform of the PDP after a bout of intrigues by opposition parties in the House of Representatives. He formally joined APC on October 28, 2014.
The police explain action
Officially, the police still insist they took the decision to strip Tambuwal of all privileges accruing to holders of office of speaker, House of Representatives “in the overall national interest.”
To the police, they were only out to, “as law enforcement agents, enforcing Section 5 part 1c, 68, 1(g) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as amended, where the terms of the tenure of seat of members of the legislative arm of government were spelt out, as follows: ‘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 – (g) 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 membership of the latter political party is not as a result of a division in the political party of which he was previously a member or of a merger of two or more political parties or factions by one of which he was previously sponsored.”
Saying they sought legal advice before taking the action, the police wondered why some people preferred the force to make selective enforcement of the law while at the same time canvassing professional police for the country. Noting that even members of the opposition hailed the acting Inspector General Suleiman Abba when he provided the atmosphere for the immediate swearing-in of acting Governor of Adamawa State, Mr. Bala James Ngilari following a court ruling for Ahmadu Fintiri to vacate office even when the latter had given an indication that he was going to appeal against the verdict, the senior officer wondered at the double standards of Nigerian opposition figures.
According to the police source, “people should not forget that the institution of Nigerian Police belongs to all Nigerians whether politician or not and therefore, its actions should be respected because it is working for the orderliness of the society no matter which party is in government. The police are not expected to wait for a breakdown of law and order before it nips issues in the bud. We are not preventing the court from carrying out its responsibilities but we also have clear and specific responsibilities granted by the same Constitution and whenever the court decides later, we also have an obligation to abide. We take certain action with best of intention for the general good of the nation. We therefore seek cooperation and understanding of everyone.
“We took the option of withdrawing our personnel from Alhaji Tambuwal because in the Nigeria Police Force, if a policeman sees a crime being committed and look the other way or keep quiet, he is culpable. The law is very clear on what happens when a member of the House of Representatives cross-carpets. The principle is that if you are the speaker, the law says if you defect to another political party, you lose your position. We have to be pro-active and withdraw police personnel attached to the Office of the Speaker of the House of Representatives because if we do nothing, he might use the office to create instability in the House. What do you think will happen if the House reconvenes and members of the PDP want to claim the office?”
Personalisation of speakership
According to a source, “the speaker’s crossing of carpet and still retaining his seat has serious implications for Nigeria’s constitutionalism, political stability and economic development. By taking this posture now, Tambuwal has personalised the speakership of Nigeria’s House of Representatives. This has implications for the nation’s democracy. The honourable thing to do, as an honourable member of the House, was to first resign. That way, he would have got a major moral boost.
“In the last two and half years, Tambuwal has abdicated his role as the Number Four in the nation’s protocol list. He avoids attending state and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) functions. He created a myth around himself that he can work against the collective interest of the party that brought him to the House and get away with it. This is opposite the posture of the President of the Senate, Senator David Mark.
“He derives power and comfort in the fact that he subverted the structure for political stability worked out by the PDP by aligning with the opposition from day one by taking the speakership position allocated to the South West by the PDP. By doing this, he gave ammunition to the same opposition to accuse President Goodluck Jonathan of marginalising the people of the South West political zone where the speaker’s position was zoned to by the PDP. His posture made the Presidency and the PDP very uncomfortable. He created the ground for destroying the party’s position on sharing positions and has not looked back since then. But you can’t create instability and benefit from it.
“What Tambuwal has done is to effectively lock down the House of Representatives. They have also put the country on a lock-down as they have effectively suspended action on the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) which forms the basis for the preparation of the nation’s annual budget. He has put under suspense the presentation and consideration of the 2015 budget and deliberations on other issues of national importance. By this, the nation’s interest comes second, after his. In adjourning to December 3, he wants to ensure that by then, PDP would have finished its primaries and he would recruit the non-returnee members of the House from the ruling party who lost out. PDP members who may not return to the House would align with him. He would recruit them in fighting the government. It is clear that he is inadvertently subverting the president’s economic agenda in order to provide ammunition for his newly declared party. He also aims to bring out embarrassing motions in the House to discredit the President Jonathan administration.
“Generally, what Tambuwal and his foot soldiers plan is to create a bobby trap. He deliberately annoyed President Jonathan by his actions. Now, he has sufficiently annoyed everybody in the PDP. When interim party chairman, Adamu Muazu, came on board, he made overtures to him to soften his positions against the party but he refused.”
Another source blamed President’s liberalism for the development in the House of Representatives. For her, “yes, Speaker Tambuwal has succeeded because of his personal ambition. But he could have the temerity to do what he has done and seems to be succeeding because of the President’s character. The President is not harsh and takes delight in obeying rule of law. He tries to always adhere to the constitution. He may comparatively love the appellation as the most democratic of Nigeria’s presidents. But you will agree with me that under a different President, this would never have happened. He is capitalising on Jonathan’s liberalism and character. He is also succeeding because of sentiments. He is hiding under the cover of primordial Northern sentiments and clever manipulation of opposition politics to mobilise for sympathy.”
Source: Guardian
