- By Abubakar Dan Bala
Barrister Aminu Waziri Tambuwal has earned an unenviable reputation in the nation’s political arena, as the Betrayer in Chief. While in office as the 12th Speaker of the House of Representatives (2011-2015), he dutifully lived up to his notorious reputation as a traitor. Perching at the apex rungs of the leadership ladder of the nation and his party, the People’s Democracy Party (PDP), Tambuwal actively worked with the opposition elements behind the scene to ensure the destruction of the very party that brought him to power. His double agent political treachery seemed very pardonable, or even justifiable, ahead of the 2015 general elections, because it tallied with the mood of the times. Majority of the people in the North wanted a return of power to the Region. So Tambuwal got away with blue murder.
Aminu Tambuwal eventually joined the then emerging All Progressives Congress (APC) and went on to clinch the coveted seat of Sokoto State Governor with the solid support of Senator Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko, who since 2007 has been in firm control of the politics of Sokoto State. True to character he betrayed Senator Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko. Like they say a leopard does not change its spots.
But he was not done with shameless duplicity. When President Muhammadu Buhari fell ill and battled for his life in some British hospitals, an ambitious but clearly empty Aminu Tambuwal quickly greased his elbows to unfold his familiar game of mischief, as he allegedly positioned himself as possible replacement for the ailing President Buhari, even when he had nothing tangible to show in his Sokoto state governorship role.
When President Buhari recovered by the special grace of Allah, and returned to his duties, Aminu Tambuwal again dug deep into his bag of political treachery motivated by his burning ambition to become president and decided to dump the APC,like the proverbial dog that goes back to its vomit, the chameleon returned to the carcass of the same PDP that he had helped to destroy, and managed to retain the Sokoto State governorship seat, though many were convinced that the present governor, Ahmad Aliyu Sokoto, actually trounced him in the 2019 gubernatorial polls. The fact that as an incumbent governor he only managed to win with 342 votes confirmed that he was a beneficiary of the political structure of Senator Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko.
Agreed, in politics, there is neither permanent friends nor mortal foes; only permanent interests. But the world can easily differentiate a permanent political interest from disgusting acts of deception, destructive manipulation, betrayal of trust and abominable duplicity of a man without any iota of conscience!
The story of how Aminu Tambuwal treated Nyesom Wike, former Governor of Rivers state, smacks more of sheer deception than the legitimate pursuit of North’s political political interest by Tambuwal. Wike had supported Tambuwal against Atiku in the run up to the 2019 Presidential polls, ceded the chairmanship of PDP Governors Forum to him, and had discussed his presidential ambition with Tambuwal. A deep pocket Wike followed up with a hefty donation of N500 million to the victims of the Sokoto International Market fire disaster in Sokoto. Till date, nobody has publicly accounted for how (and if) the humongous amount donated by Wike and many other people, was applied in aid of the fire victims.
At the end of the day, Tambuwal played his trademark game of betrayal on Wike, shocking the Rivers state strongman to the bone marrow, as Tambuwal ditched him to back Atiku for the 2023 Presidential ticket of the PDP. Ordinarily, there was nothing wrong with supporting Atiku, in the spirit of namu namu, instead of reciprocating Wike’s selfish gestures, but it was unconscionable duplicity and sheer wickedness to have misled Wike into believing in the unreality of his support.
The list of notable political heavyweights who once had trustful and cosy relationships with Aminu Tambuwal, only to come off with bloodied nose of regrets is endless. These would include Senator Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko who in 2015, rescued Aminu Tambuwal from political oblivion, and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu whose Action Congress of Nigeria(ACN) platform helped Tambuwal to become Speaker of the House of Reps in 2011, against the wish and permutations of the ruling PDP which ceded the position to the South West zone for balanced political representation.
Both former Ekiti state governor Ayodele Fayose and the incumbent Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, also have gory tales of how they had been stabbed in the back by one man who appears to relish in inflicting political pains on those who dared to repose their trust and confidence in him. Aminu Tambuwal exemplifies the popular saying that whoever chooses to dine with the devil must use a very long spoon. And in the case of Aminu Tambuwal he definitely would break the spoon ensuring that you don’t achieve your political goals like Wike suffered in his hands.
Perhaps, the worst form of betrayal that can be ascribed to Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, now ineffectual Senator representing Sokoto South District, was the shabby and ignoble way he discharged the governorship mandate which the good people of Sokoto state willingly invested in him in 2015, and which he also grabbed in 2019. For nearly all the time that he occupied the exalted Office of the Executive Governor, Aminu Tambuwal spent more of his days in Abuja, only occasionally strolling into the state to spend time with the people that entrusted their welfare into his hands. He played the game of a Visiting Governor, perfected by former Saminu Turaki who served as absentee governor of Jigawa state between 1999 and 2007. Tambuwal also copied Turaki in wasteful application of public funds and in going into the Senate after wasting eight years on the governor’s seat.
It is on record that the only period that Tambuwal stayed put in Sokoto state as governor was during the global lockdown occasioned by the Corona virus (Covid-19) pandemic. At all other times during his tenure, the allure of Abuja, his overarching presidential ambition, the meaningless oversight of the PDP Governors Forum, plus sheer indolence and lack of developmental initiative, all combined to keep Tambuwal far away from the people that he swore an oath to serve. It is not surprising that his eight-year tenure is remembered mostly in disdain or in regrets over the many things he failed to do, and the things he did wrongly. His litany of abandoned projects is a rude reminder of his failure as governor.
Presently, Tambuwal is being investigated by a duly constituted panel of inquiry for alleged diversion of over N16 billion, proceeds of the sale of Sokoto State Government shares. It is likely that the panel will unearth more skeletons in the cupboard of the failed governor. But, rather than put his records together to truthfully respond to inquiries about how the public funds were used or misused under his watch, the serial betrayer and his hirelings chose the road of infamy, as they continue to wage a war of attrition against the incumbent governor, Ahmad Aliyu, aimed at diverting attention from the urgent need to render an account of his poor stewardship.
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It is in furtherance of their ungodly agenda to distract the incumbent governor that Tambuwal and his PDP foot soldiers, from the pith of hell, came up with baseless allegation that the administration of Ahmad Aliyu Sokoto had awarded a contract of N30 billion for street fencing. It is hoped that the Justice Muazu Abdulkadir Commission of Inquiry being a Court of competent jurisdiction would compel the appearance of Aminu Tambuwal to answer for his actions against the people of Sokoto State,before he decides to return a paltry N1 billion like former governor Attahiru Bafarawa who recently returned what he thought he might have misappropriated.
The Sokoto State Attorney General might also consider dragging the authors of that libelous fabrication that the contract was awarded at N30 billion to furnish irrefutable proof of their allegations, or be held accountable for attempting to instigate the people against the state government.
Facts have since emerged in the public domain to completely expose the falsehood respecting the “N30 billion” road fencing contract. Indeed, a contract was awarded for the installation of panel wire mesh to fence off road portions to prevent people from being knocked down by vehicles as they run across some busy roads in the metropolis. This life saving, people orientated and highly commendable project was awarded on March 24, 2024, at the total cost of N866,399,743.75, a far cry from the senseless hype of N30 billion. The contract also includes beautification work designed to give the State Capital a befitting facelift, uplifted from the putrefying dirtiness of the Tambuwal wasted years.
It is annoying to hear from the grapevine that Aminu Waziri Tambuwal still nurses a presidential ambition, and is not even ashamed to tell people about it. That ambition is certainly dead before arrival. Whenever the indolent senator declares for the 2027 race, he would be met with an appropriate payback by all victims of his betrayal, most especially the good people of Sokoto state who suffered abhorable neglect and poor governance from his vast emptiness.
It is only fair that Aminu Waziri Tambuwal should reap bountiful whirlwind, since he has dutifully sowed wind by betraying all or most of his benefactors!!