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Tag: Aminu Tambuwal

  • NANS to IG: Reinstate Tambuwal’s security details

    NANS to IG: Reinstate Tambuwal’s security details

    THE National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has demanded the immediate reinstatement of security personnel attached to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal.

    The Speaker’s security aides were withdrawn by the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Abba Suleiman, after Tambuwal’s defection to the All Progressives Party (APC).

    In a statement yesterday by its president, Tijani Usman, NANS also noted that a public apology by the IGP is necessary because the police was not constitutional empowered to interpret the law,

    Besides, the students warned Suleiman not to turn the police to an arm of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    The statement reads: “NANS secretariat strongly believes that the action of the presidency against the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, is grossly miscalculated, undemocratic and an affront on the Nigerian people.

    “Democracy is not worth it when it is turned to victimisation and witch-hunting. The Inspector General of Police, acting under whatever capacity, has no constitutional right to withdraw the security personnel attached to the office of the Speaker because he defected to another party.”

    “The IGP should not make the police an arm of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) because the police have no constitutional right to interpret the law but to enforce it.”

    The student union demanded immediate reinstatement of the security personnel of the Speaker with full operational capacity and an unreserved apology to the office of the Speaker.

     

  • Here comes executive chauffeur

    Here comes executive chauffeur

    HAVE you seen House of Representatives Speaker Aminu Tambuwal lately?

    Still sprightly, confident and jocular.

    The broad smiles are still there. So are the white Babanriga, cap and shoes. But, gone are the security personnel, those guys in black suits and dark goggles. Also gone are the policemen, recalled by Police Chief Suleiman Abba – against all legal and democratic norms.

    The question many were asking yesterday is: Did Abba also banish Tambuwal’s driver?

    Always chauffeur-driven, Tambuwal showed up yesterday at a public hearing in Abuja, driving a black Range Rover Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV).

    The Presidency and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), acting through the police, last week withdrew Tambuwal’s security detail, thus turning the country’s number four citizen into an ordinary Nigerian. His sin: he dumped the PDP for the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    Until his defection, sirens announced Tambuwal’s arrival and departure from events. A police orderly sat with him in the car. Not anymore. But the Speaker carried on with the mien of one not bothered by such privileges. But the point is: Many insist Tambuwal deserves all the privileges of his office as Nigeria’s number four citizen.

    His assignment yesterday was to open public hearings by two committees of the House –  Public Account and Justice.

    Tambuwal carried out the assignment dutifully, shielded by APC lawmakers. He thereafter moved into his office.

  • Speaker, Reps’ panel, AGF want Audit Bill to tackle corruption

    THE Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, has underscored the need for a new Audit Act that would address the challenges of corruption.

    While declaring open a public hearing on a bill for an Act to repeal the Audit Act of 1956 and reenact the Audit Act of 2014 yesterday in Abuja, Tambuwal asked his colleagues and stakeholders whether the new bill is capable of addressing the pervasive corruption in the country.

    The public hearing was jointly organised by House Committees on Public Accounts and Justice.

    His words: “Is the purpose of the bill clearly defined? Is the provision of the bill consistent with the purpose? Is the purpose and the provision consistent with the 1999 Constitution?

    “Is the bill in line with international best practices? It is only when these questions were adequately addressed can we say it is valid, legitimate and will stand the test of time”.

    Earlier in his opening remarks, Chairman, Committee on Public Accounts, Solomon Adeola, said the extant law was obsolete and grossly inadequate in addressing emerging challenges arising from digitalisation of auditing and accounting systems.

    Besides, he noted that the need for a more comprehensive law has become imperative due to the high level of corruption in the country.

    The Auditor-General of the Federation (AGF) Samuel Ukuru, however, assured the lawmakers and the international community that the passage of the proposed Audit bill 2014 would boost the fight against corruption.

    According to him, the bill seeks to strengthen the power of the office of the Auditor General of the Federation and establish the Audit Service Commission among other innovations

    He said: “When passed into law, it will place Nigeria among comity of nations that are genuinely fighting corruption. With the coming into force of this Act, the image of the country will be enhanced.

    “It will further ensure accountability and transparency in the conduct of government business.

    “This is because Nigeria has over the years failed to align with international best practice as the office of the Auditor General for the Federation, which suppose to be a foremost anti-corruption institution in the country, does not have an Audit Act.”

  • APC raises strategy panel on Tambuwal

    APC raises strategy panel on Tambuwal

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) has set up a strategy committee to deal with the ongoing moves by the Presidency to unseat House of Representatives Speaker Aminu Tambuwal

    This decision was taken a t a meeting last night between the leadership and the APC caucus in the House.

    The strategic committee is to be made up members of the National Working Committee ( NWC) and the  House Representatives caucus of the APC.

    National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said the meeting deliberated on the travails of Tambuwal, especially the rough tackles the PDP-led federal government is adopting

    He said: “We met to deliberate on the issue of the Speaker, Rt. Hon. Aminu Tambuwal. But the ground has been softened before the meeting by the ruling of Justice Mohammed who asked that status quo be maintained and that the House cannot reconvene until November 7 when the parties are before him.

    “What we did after was to take briefings from all the members and the party in respect of our coming convention and primaries. That is the sum total of our discussions”.

     

  • An enforcer on rampage?

    An enforcer on rampage?

    It was expected that the purveyors of the morality of the specious kind would seek to muddle the issues involved in the defection of House of Representatives Speaker, the Rt. Hon Aminu Tambuwal in their bid to exact brutal assault of the constitution of the republic. From the look of things, the bizarre act, by the acting Inspector General of Police, Suleiman Abba, of stripping the Speaker of his security details merely presents a foretaste of more brazen acts of impunity by an increasingly out-of-control administration.

    Let me at once state that of all the arguments that have been made on the defection of the Number 4 citizen, the most seductive one has been the one which goes that the Speaker ought to have vacated his seat the very moment he announced his defection from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC) that Tuesday October 28 – on moral grounds!

    Morality? Who is talking morality? The matadors of power for whom everything is game?

    I digress.

    The issue here is the status Rt. Hon Tambuwal. To be clear, the argument of the partisans, including our hordes of netizens that the Speaker ought to have done the ‘needful’ the very moment he opted to part ways with the party that sponsored him into parliament is neither here nor there. To the extent that he has done nothing of their expected “needful” – on moral or immoral grounds – he remains Speaker of the House of Representatives!

    I have heard, and I find it ingenious as well as amusing, the argument that section 68 (1) (g) is self-actuating! That the provision deems the Speaker to have vacated his seat as a member of the House and by extension his position as speaker the very moment he defected from his former party! I daresay that the position is a new one –an unfathomable constitutional absurdity as we shall see presently.

    Now, let’s proceed from the known. We start with Section 68(1) (g). It 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;

    (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”.

    So what to do in the case of a breach of that provision? Here is what the constitution says in Section 68(2): “The President of the Senate or the Speaker of the House of Representatives, as the case may be, shall give effect to the provisions of subsection (1) of this section, so however that the President of the Senate or the Speaker of the House of Representatives or a member shall first present evidence satisfactory to the House concerned that any of the provisions of that subsection has become applicable in respect of that member”.

    Not being a lawyer, my understanding of the foregoing is that the constitution leaves no room for the rule of arbitrariness under which an extraneous party would hide to foist the rule of mischief. Not only is the section clear about the authority to declare any seat vacant, it establishes the rule of the process to be followed. That process obviously begins and terminates in the House while disputes and controversies arising there from are expected to be settled at the courts!

    Which is what makes the directive of Jonathan’s enforcer, Suleiman Abba, inexplicable.  My humble view is that Nigerians should do a textual analysis of the IG’s statement. For the records, here is what it text said: “In view of the recent defection by the Right Honourable Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, the Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC)” and, “Having regard to the clear provision of section 68(1) (g) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended, the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) has redeployed its personnel attached to his office”.

    Whose office? The office of Tambuwal or the Office of the Speaker of the House of Representatives? This is where I detect a plot more sinister than what most people presently understand it to be. For if it seems barely understandable that Tambuwal would be summarily tried, convicted and sentenced in the court of IG Abba to please his PDP taskmasters, that the entire institution of the House that would be put in abeyance under the authority of the IG would pass for less than tolerable!

    Now, we know what the law says. For emphasis, the process of declaring a seat vacant begins with a member first presenting evidence that is satisfactory to the House. The same rule presumes that members would deliberate on the evidence after which it would then pronounce a verdict. That is the law. As for the position of the Speaker, the rule of the House is no less clear: the members require two-third majority to remove the Speaker. And if I may add, the business of removing Tambuwal or declaring his seat vacant lies between the House and the courts! The fact that neither Abba nor his PDP sponsors belong to either makes their desperation despicable. Worse is that an officer sworn to uphold the law has shown such a degree of bias that borders on impunity.

    If you ask me, I will urge that the Senate make the IGP’s cup to pass over Suleiman Abba. He seems better cut out for Wadata Plaza – the abode of intrigues, headquarters and home of Impunity Incorporated.  To confirm him as chief of police at these difficult times is to grant an open licence to impunity!  Nigeria deserves a better top cop.

     

     

     

     

     

  • Tambuwal and the integrity question

    Tambuwal and the integrity question

    Ripples’ candid view: Aminu Tambuwal, Speaker of the House of Representatives, should have resigned his speakership.

    From the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) camp, now busy shopping for sympathy, and howling “betrayal”, that view would be “balanced and objective”; or even “patriotic”.

    From the All Progressives Congress (APC), celebrating a big political catch, Ripples would be guilty of “empty idealism” and perhaps culpable ignorance of the realpolitik.

    But both views would amount to cant.  Principles are constant.  But cant is the chameleon that changes with the season, even if it has to risk high unreason, bordering on patent absurdity.

    By convention, the party with the majority provides the Speaker — democracy is, after all, majority rule.  So, Alhaji Tambuwal ought to have stepped down because it is decent, because it is honourable, because it is fair.

    But which of the opposing sides plays by decency, plays by honour, plays by fairness?  And if overwhelming bad faith is the grundnorm, why would a partisan play by good faith — to commit partisan suicide?

    To the emotive and non-introspective, therefore, the Tambuwal affair is a PDP vs. APC tango.  In a way, it is — to the extent that the one got a net-loss and the other, a net-gain.  But dig deeper, and what you see is the unconscionable face of Nigerian politics, and its rotten, smelly core!  That ought to impress the perceptive, much more than partisan gains or losses.

    Take the PDP that now screams blue murder.  What moral right has it to do so: because it boasts better morality when similar situations are to its own rogue advantage?

    Mulikat Adeolu-Akande, the House Leader, was quoted as saying that the with Ondo Governor, Olusegun Mimiko’s defection to PDP, all eight Labour Party (LP) members of the House of Representatives “automatically” (and Ripples adds, seamlessly) become PDP members — just like that?  And there was even no split in LP!

    Now, if the House Leader is so sloppy in her sense of proprietary, why should others be more scrupulous — because the majority is now the victim?  Or because PDP can ripple its majority muscles to threaten others, or corral illicit orders from the Police high command to impose its will?

    That, of course, brings the debate to the purported withdrawal of security from the office of Speaker — not because he has been deposed as Speaker, but because he has defected from the majority party.

    To start with, there is an eerie similarity between Sulaiman Abba, acting Inspector-General of Police (IGP) and his commander-in-chief, President Goodluck Jonathan, in the so-called withdrawal of the Speaker’s security details.

    The one wants to be confirmed IGP at all cost; the other wants to win in 2015 at all cost.  So, it is meet that the subversive order — subversive of the law — emanated from the Concert of the Desperate, into which the duo fits pat!  Whenever desperation is sighted, bad judgement is never far away.

    Besides, it is tribute to Jonathan’s presidential focus that even as Boko Haram swooped over Mubi in Adamawa, the commander-in-chief was swooping over a presidential nomination form for a job he has clearly proved his inability; and was also gracelessly settling partisan scores with the Speaker.

    On what basis was the IGP giving that illegal order?  That Alhaji Tambuwal is no longer Speaker?  That definitely is not true, for no parliamentary session has deposed him.  And if he is still Speaker, does the IGP, even if the president gives him an illegal order, have the right to summarily strip the No. 4 citizen of his security, his right by law?

    If that were so, then it would be dangerous indeed: for maybe some day, someone, somewhere could “order” the IGP to summarily withdraw the president’s security details too!  And by pure logic, why not?  If a mere policeman can deny the No. 4 citizen his legally guaranteed security, on some phantom law he lacks the capacity to correctly interpret, he could also as well deny the No. 1, citizen, the president, of his too!

    Outrageous?  That is the risk you take when, by reflex but unreflective actions, you try to undermine the institutions of state.

    But back to the basic argument: ought Speaker Tambuwal have remained Speaker, after defecting from his majority party?  On moral grounds, Ripples thinks not.  But the legality or otherwise of it is much more complex, all the more complicated by the mala fide all round.

    To start with, by Section 50(1)(b) of the 1999 Constitution, the Speaker is the exclusive business of the House.  So, is the IGP (or even the president) a member of the House?  So, how come both have convinced (more of colluded with) themselves the Speaker has been removed, and so should forfeit his right to official security by law, if both don’t suffer from grand executive delusion?

    Then even the law the IGP glibly quoted: Section 68(1)(g), which says a House member loses his seat if he left his party for another, provided there was no division in the party or merger with another party.

    Now, where was our IGP when Labour Party MPs defected to PDP, even with no division in their party?  The same law he brandished with a flourish at the Speaker died then, just because the president was pleased with the defection to his own party?  So, it is some Animal Farm, where some animals are more equal than others?

    Of course, partisan opinion is divided on whether a division exists in the PDP.  The ruling party hierarchs love to flaunt a court verdict that there was nothing like “New PDP”.  They follow that up to kid themselves there was no division in the party.  But if there was no division, how come five governors (Sokoto, Rivers, Kano, Kwara and Adamawa — now reclaimed by gunboat impeachment) left the party for APC?

    The opposition APC has even upped the ante, pushing forth two Federal High Court judgments:  Justice Faji, in Ilorin, that held there were indeed factions in the PDP; and Justice Aikawa, in Sokoto, which not only affirmed that there was a division but also held that the resulting faction merged with APC.

    So, if these judgments are real, where stands the PDP position that factions never existed simply because of the legal sophistry that no “New PDP existed”?  And where stands the IGP precipitate order to strip the Speaker of his security, simply because Mr. President is boiling?

    Let President Jonathan and fellow PDP hierarchs boil all they want.  They are only a victim of their own impunity.  The rich also cry!

    But let them be wary of, as Jonathan always does when he appears trapped, rushing to wield power, without recourse to the law that created that power.  That would reinforce the ultimate futility of impunity and doom them to crises like the Tambuwal affair, if not the eventual collapse of the democratic project.

    As for APC, let them too be wary of playing the politics of cant, and play more of the politics of principle.  It is such penchant to play in the PDP sewers that fuels the rising opinion that APC differs from PDP as six differs from half-a-dozen.

    APC, if it really wants to deliver change, cannot afford such conceptual putdown.

  • A compromised IG?

    A compromised IG?

    •The legal thing to do is restore Speaker Tambuwal’s security detail

    Though long speculated and expected, it was only natural that the defection of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Honourable AminuTambuwal, from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC) on October 28 would create serious political ripples. Despite the resultant verbal cross-fire, especially between the two parties, the politicians have conducted themselves with uncharacteristic restraint and respect for the law on the matter.

    For instance, there was no pandemonium on the floor of the House after the Speaker’s bombshell. He still adjourned proceedings peacefully as the legitimate Speaker. Speaking after an emergency meeting of the PDP National Working Committee (NWC) to consider the development, the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, demanded Tambuwal’s resignation as Speaker since the PDP controls a majority in the House. According to him, “After a thorough consideration of the matter, the NWC came to the conclusion that the Honourable Speaker as a responsible elected officer knows full well what is needful and honourable of him since his new party is in the new minority”.

    Sounding a similar note, the Chairman of the PDP Governors Forum, Mr Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State, said “He should do the needful as there is no crisis in the PDP. Tambuwal has only been a member of PDP by mouth. He has been associating with the opposition”. On his part, the Deputy Majority Leader of the House of Representatives, Honourable Leo Ogor, also of the PDP said that the party would await the verdict of the judiciary on the legality or otherwise of a legislator defecting from one party to the other.

    All these PDP chieftains are obviously aware that Tambuwal is still the legitimate and legal Speaker of the House until he is removed in accordance with constitutional stipulations. Against this background, how do we explain the hasty action of the Acting Inspector-General of Police, Mr Suleiman Abba, who has withdrawn Tambuwal’s security detail, claiming that the latter is no more a member of the House according to his own interpretation of Section 68(1) (g) of the 1999 constitution. He feigns ignorance of the fact that 37 PDP members of the House who had earlier defected to the APC remain members of the legislature as a judicial interpretation of Section 68 (1) (g) of the constitution is being awaited. Rather, he has chosen to do violence to the constitution by usurping the functions of the judiciary.

    It is amazing that Mr Abba, who is a lawyer, is oblivious of the fact that the Speaker of the House can only be removed in accordance with Section 50 (2) of the constitution which requires a resolution passed by votes of not less than two thirds majority of members of the House. Furthermore, by his glaring bias and partisanship, the Acting IG has seriously undermined the credibility of his office. Despite defecting along with her colleagues from the Labour Party (LP) to the PDP last month, the Speaker of the Ondo State House of Assembly, Honourable Jumoke Akindele, retains her security details. That is also the case with the Speaker of the Adamawa State House of Assembly, Ahmadu Fintiri, who has undertaken a voyage from the PDP to the APC and back to the PDP without police harassment.

    Could the Acting IG have taken this action without the knowledge of President Goodluck Jonathan who appointed him? It is unlikely. This is another serious blow to the image and dignity of the presidency. Even if this grovelling unprofessionalism earns Mr Suleiman Abba the confirmation he craves, it will be at the cost of grossly devaluing his professional integrity and effectiveness. His only redeeming grace will be to urgently restore Honourable Tambuwal’s security aides for as long as he remains Nigeria’s number four citizen.

     

  • NLC faults withdrawal of Tambuwal’s security aides

    NLC faults withdrawal of Tambuwal’s security aides

    The Nigeria Labour Congress has described the withdrawal of security details of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal by the police as shameful.

    The Union in a statement entitled “nothing must happen to Tambuwal” and signed by the General Secretary of Congress, Dr Peter Ozo-Eson, the congress said it was part of plans by politicians to heat up the polity.
    It said withdrawing the security details of the Speaker for decamping to the All Progressive Congress is unconstitutional as no section of the Nigerian constitution states that the Speaker must come from the majority party.
    The NLC said further if the Police did not withdraw the security details of Ondo state governor, Olusegun Mimiko and former Borno state governor, Ali Modu Sherrif for decamping from the Labour Party and All Progressive party respectively to the PDP, there was no sense in withdrawing Tambuwal’s aides for decamping.
    While demanding the immediate restoration of Tambuwal’s security details, the NLC said that the police and other security agents who carried out the action should hide their head in shame.
    The statement reads: “We at the  Nigeria Labour Congress are appalled by the withdrawal of security details of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal ostensibly because he had decamped to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
    “The act is shameful, distasteful, unconstitutional and demonstrates our parochial sense of power and very little knowledge of history. No part of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria says the Speaker of the House of Representatives should come from the majority party.
    “Section 50(1)(b) only says, ” 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…”
    “In the Second Republic, the Honourable Speaker of the House of Representatives Chief Edwin Ume-Ezeoke was elected from the ranks of NPP, not just an opposition party but the third strong , after UPN and NPN. We have other precedents across the world.
    “We find it appropriate to cite the examples of Mimiko and Ali Modu-Sheriff, governor of Ondo State and former governor of Borno State respectively. Their security details were not withdrawn when they decamped to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
    “It gives us concern that our political leaders are determined to learn very little about democracy and always seem too keen to overheat the polity over things that count for little.
    “The police and other security agencies complicit in this disgusting conduct should hold their heads in shame. Herein lies the essence of strong institutions which we have always advocated.
    “For those who take pleasure in converting to personal use, public/state institutions, today’s men soon become yesterday’s men. What goes around, comes around.
    “In light of the foregoing, we demand immediate restoration of Tambuwal’s security detail and all the rights and privileges that accrue to the Office of the Speaker. It is not about Tambuwal, it is about the office which he holds.
    “And in any case, only  few, arguably will contest that he has not discharged and acquitted himself as speaker. We would like to be on record that we will not fold our hands while little minds threaten our hard-earned democracy. Nothing should happen to Tambuwal”.

  • Suleiman Abba: A profile in controversy

    Suleiman Abba: A profile in controversy

    Since he was appointed Acting Inspector General of Police, Suleiman Abba has made decisions many termed controversial, the latest being the withdrawal of the security detail of House of Representatives Speaker, Aminu Tambuwal. Seun Akioye reports

    In Suleiman Abba’s long career in the service of the Nigerian Police force, very little stood him out as a controversial officer and even fewer significant events touted him as the officer destined for the high office of the Inspector General of Police, (IGP). Some of his colleagues and superiors described him as a loyal and dedicated officer; others said he served meritoriously, never questioning orders and ready to do his duty. They say he was an officer and a gentleman, they may be right.

    Abba climbed the leadership ladder through the ranks, not for him the sometimes underserved and unearned promotion which usually comes about due to the overriding influence of a godfather. Abba also played his game well, he avoided all the known pitfalls, unnecessary agitations and while rising through the ranks, he waited for his time.

    Abba’s career took him through several sections in service making friends and maybe enemies along the way.  He was the Assistant Commissioner of Police in charge of State CID at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Command before he moved to the Force Headquarters as the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP).

    At some point, he was Commissioner of Police in Rivers State and was Aide-De-Camp (ADC) to Maryam Abacha, wife of former military ruler Sani Abacha who died in 1998. Then on February 22, 2012, he was promoted Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) in charge of zone 7.

    He has also had a solid academic background; his first degree was in History after which he bagged another Degree in Law.  He is also a proud alumnus of the Prestigious National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies in Kuru (NIPPS), Jos Plateau State.

    But fate works in mysterious ways as Abba was favoured above eight of his superiors to be named the Acting Inspector General of Police on August 1, 2014 to take over from the outgoing Mohammed Abubakar. Under normal circumstances, reaching the zenith of one’s profession should be what one should look up to, but the Police Abba inherited carried with it negative baggage that would require a heart of steel and a stealth hand to deal with. Abba seemed to have hit the ground running. His first statement included the fact that he would not change the vision of his predecessor but he will bring about attitudinal change in the way policemen conduct their business.

    The change came earlier than expected. On October 30th, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal defected from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC). Few hours later, the IGP announced in a statement the withdrawal of the Speaker’s security details citing provisions of Section 68 (1) (g) of the 1999 Constitution as amended.

    The statement reads: “In view of the recent defection by the Right Hon.  Aminu Waziri Tanbuwal, CFR, the Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, from the Peoples Democratic Party to the All Progressives Congress and having regard to the clear provision of section 68(1) (g) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended, the Nigeria Police Force, has redeployed its personnel attached to his office.”

    Very few applauded the IGP for his ‘proactive’ actions with many accusing him of turning himself and the Police into a constitution interpreting institution abandoning its primary responsibility.

    Section 68 (1) (g) of 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 –

    (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.

    Jumping the gun

    The question many commentators have asked was when did it become the lot of the Nigerian Police to interpret the constitution? Do the Police err by its proactive action in deciding the Speaker flawed extant provisions of Section 68 of the constitution without an appropriate proclamation from the judiciary?

    Aminu Tambuwal thought so. In a statement by his spokesperson, Imam Imam, he said in the IGP’s interpretation of the law, “nothing could be further from the truth.” The implication according to Imam is that the IGP has singlehandedly removed Tambuwal from office.

    To back his stand, Tambuwal’s spokesman had added, “For the avoidance of doubt the question of whether or not there is a division or faction in the PDP has been resolved by Lord Justice Faji of the Ilorin Division of Federal High Court in suit FHC/ABJ/CS/605/2013 in which the court held that indeed there were factions in the PDP.

    “What the Acting Inspector General of Police has done therefore has no basis in law including the 1999 Constitution which he has cited. It is a brazen act of crass impunity, gross constitutional breach and contempt of court. The Inspector General should desist from assuming or usurping the constitutional functions of the Judiciary.”

    The Inspector General is not alien to controversy. Few days after his appointment, he had told senior officers that he would prevent criminals from contesting the 2015 general elections. According to him,”During screening of candidates, we will collaborate with our colleagues, particularly the Department of State Service to ensure that candidates with criminal records are not allowed to contest the election.”

    But the Supreme Court had ruled in the case between Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) that any indictment needed judicial backing to be effective meaning the police cannot stop a candidate without an order of the court.

    Some Senators also rallied to Tambuwal’s defence. Senator Babafemi Ojodu said it was unfair and uncivilised. “Why can’t they withdraw the security of Governor Olusegun Mimiko when he defected from Labour Party to the PDP? If the government continues like this, they will kill Nigeria’s democracy. The Federal Government will be held responsible if anything should happen to Tambuwal today,” he said.

    For Mike Ozekhome, a lawyer and human rights activist, Tambuwal remains the Speaker of the House, “At least till December 3, when the House resumes Plenary. He has not been impeached. He remains the number four (4) person in Nigeria. He, therefore, deserves full complement of security.”

    Also, Victor Oghene, Deputy Chairman House Committee on Media and Publicity said House proceedings cannot be regulated from the outside. “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.

    “While the case of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, who as a sitting Vice President moved to another political party – and did not get judicial reprobation for the act – is still fresh in our memories, the clear provisions of Section 50(1) (b) of the Nigerian Constitution easily settles the worries regarding the continued Speakership of Tambuwal. ” There shall be a Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives who shall be elected by the members of that House from among themselves”, the above quoted portion of the Constitution stipulates. It would, therefore, amount to an affront on members’ privilege to question their constitutionally-guaranteed right to freely elect their leader.”

    By stirring the hornets’ nest, Abba may have unwittingly charted the course that will define his time at the head of Nigerian police and the perception of the public as exemplified in the opinions of a caller on a radio programme on Friday. “The IGP has shown he is a political officer and he has already taken sides with a party against the other. How can we trust him to be neutral in the 2015 general elections?”

    However, the IGP may still have many opportunities to win Nigerians to his side. But would he…?

     

  • Tambuwal loyalists move to impeach Ihedioha

    Tambuwal loyalists move to impeach Ihedioha

    The defection of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, has created a crack within the caucus of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the House as moves have commenced for the impeachment of the Deputy Speaker, Emeka Ihedioha.

    It was learnt yesterday night that the move by the lawmakers sympathetic to Tambuwal was borne out of Ihedioha’s alleged disloyalty to the Speaker, whom they said has been shielding him.

    Tambuwal loyalists said they are poised to counter any moves aimed at removing the Speaker.

    The loyal lawmakers that cut across the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the PDP said the Deputy Speaker, Ihedioha, would be the first casualty, if the attempt to reconvene the plenary by Ihedioha ever succeeded.

    According to a source, who pleaded anonymity, it was a suprise and alarming that the Deputy  Speaker would move to reconvene the House to pave way for the removal of Tambuwal at the prodding of the Presidency.

    It was learnt last night that an impeachment motion against the Deputy Speaker is being drafted with many members signifying their interests to endorse the motion.

    He said: “We are alarmed at moves by the Deputy Speaker to reconvene the House somewhere this week in order to remove the Speaker.

    “Therefore, we have resolved that Ihedioha will be the first casualty if he dare reconvene the House because he has been surviving because of Tambuwal’s protection. Most PDP members from the north and all APC members are in support of removing him.

    “He survived several moves to oust him because Tambuwal and some powerful northern members have been protecting him but now that he is being pushed to bite the very finger that is feeding him, his days as deputy speaker are numbered.

    “Unlike Tambuwal, Ihedioha does not have any personal touch with members. But the Speaker has touch and contacts with all the 360 constituencies in the country.

    “Former Deputy Speaker Bayero Nafada was not like Ihedioha, his was always filled with members. Even members from his zone of Southeast are with us in this project which makes it easy for us to get the 240 votes to impeach him,” the source who pleaded anonymity said.