Tag: House of Representatives

The self-styled ‘largest political party in Africa’ turns to usual lawlessness as Speaker dumps the Humpty Dumpty

Until the defection, last Tuesday, of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC), many people had regarded the defection, in August, of the former presidential candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in the 2011 presidential election, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, as the defection to beat. And that was quite understandable. ACN and other political parties that are unhappy with the state of affairs in the country have now teamed up to form the APC which is now trying to take over power from the ruling PDP.

So, those who regard Ribadu’s defection to the PDP as the biggest such carpet-crossing have every right to hold that opinion. What on earth could have made a party’s presidential candidate abandon the ship only to want to run for governor on another party’s ticket? Well, much as Ribadu is now recuperating from his failure to get what he thought he was going to get in the PDP that probably necessitated his defection, the APC too, hopefully, must have learnt its lessons. What was Ribadu’s antecedent that qualified him to hoist such an exalted flag?

However, now that Speaker Tambuwal has dumped the PDP, that has become the talk of the town and made Ribadu’s defection pale into insignificance. Tambuwal’s defection is the ‘mother of all defections’, at least so far. I said so far because no one can tell, the president himself might decide to jump ship before Noah’s Ark is full! ”

My dear colleagues, pursuant to the extant provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and having regards to the developments in my home state of Sokoto, I wish to hereby formally notify you of my membership of the All Progressives Congress (APC). Let me register my profound appreciation to all of you, my colleagues, for the unflinching support you have continued to extend to me and the great sacrifice you are making in the pursuit of the overall national interest and the development of constitutional democracy …”. Tambuwal crowned it with a prayer that God should continue to guide his colleagues as they exercise the people’s mandate entrusted to them.

With these words he adjourned sitting in the House to December 3. Although Tambuwal’s defection had been in the air for so long, why it still took some of the PDP representatives by surprise, to the extent that some of them reportedly wept after the Speaker’s announcement, is difficult to comprehend.

Of course, everyone who is conversant with our political developments could have predicted how the Goodluck Jonathan administration would react to the issue that should be a battle of wits and guts. But trust the PDP and its government; they have already turned it to roforofo fight. Even as the Speaker was yet to return the gavel with which he hit the table to declare proceedings of the House of Representatives closed on Tuesday after dropping the bombshell, some of the PDP members had started calling for Tambuwal’s resignation from the party.

Indeed, the ‘punishment’ has started. National Vice-Chairman of the party in the South-South, Dr. Cairo Ojougboh, vowed to do everything within his powers to regain the speakership of the House from Tambuwal. “PDP is a very disciplined (disciplined?) party. If you come and steal in the PDP and use the PDP to elevate yourself and get into office, when the time comes, God will get you out like the issue of Tambuwal. You can see how God has exposed him”, he said. As if it is not common knowledge that the countless persons that God had truly exposed in the ruling party are the ones enjoying the fruits of the land!

Expectedly, even if gratuitously, the Acting Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Suleiman Abba, has joined the fray by withdrawing Tambuwal’s security men. By so doing, the acting IGP assumed the role of the judiciary which he has absolutely no power to assume. Moreover, there are many cases pending in courts concerning the Section 68(1) (g) that he cited as the basis for his action. At any rate, at whose behest did the IGP take the action? And how does that become a pressing matter for his attention and action? If the police boss could promptly react to the crimes plaguing the country the way he reacted to Tambuwal’s defection, a purely political affair, the country would be a better place to live in. Again, not only did the courts say that there was not only division in the party but faction, which later merged with the APC. So, on what legal plank did the IGP stand to carry out his clearly partisan action?

It is obvious the PDP would even take more misguided and desperate actions in the coming days and weeks. For now, it appears the police force is enough. At the appropriate time, other security forces – army, navy and air force – may be involved. When the ruling party fights, it does so with all its fury and might, forgetting that the era of brute force is gone forever. Ideas rule today’s world. The PDP should however be well guided by Nigeria’s political history, and particularly by what  happened in Burkina Faso, where soldiers joined demonstrators in protesting the plan by that country’s parliament to extend (now former) President Blaise Compaore’s nearly three-decade rule. It comes to a point when even security forces become embarrassed by the unholy use to which lawless governments put them, particularly when the parliament that should do the needful fail in that responsibility.

Another thing that should be expected is that, rather than the ruling party lament that it had lost a big fish (that is obvious because the country’s Number Four Citizen cannot be anything but a big fish), the party would, in its arrogance and ignorance (or both) suddenly realise that the Speaker is nothing but a political Lilliputian; someone whose kernel was cracked for him by the party only for him to turn round to bite the finger that made him politically relevant. The PDP said that when it lost Bukola Saraki, the former governor of Kwara State. When Saraki was in the ruling party, he was an issue, but the moment he defected, he became an inconsequential politician; the same was said of Rotimi Amaechi, the Rivers State governor. So, no one should be surprised if the ruling party now says Tambuwal’s exit from the party is good riddance to bad rubbish. Indeed, Ojougboh suggested that much in his reaction to the issue.

Another likely fallout of Tambuwal’s defection is that he would suddenly become a corrupt person; (sorry, the PDP would now suddenly realise he is corrupt). So, he is likely to be ferociously hounded by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), as if even if the allegation is true, he is the only corrupt person in the land; or, as if we do not see very corrupt persons around the corridors of power on a daily basis. As a matter of fact, the party would have forgotten while accusing Tambuwal of being corrupt that the president had said there is nothing like corruption in Nigeria and that what many of us call corruption is mere stealing! Tambuwal’s sins (if any) that would have been overlooked if he had not left the ruling party would suddenly be remembered and visited. The ruling party would now desperately start fishing for excuses to rubbish him. To them, it used to be unthinkable that anyone of substance could ever dump the PDP. No matter what we might say of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, he is one of the first big fishes to dump the Humpty Dumpty, even if he returned, only to quit again. But he made the point that there is nothing sacrosanct in or about the PDP. Tambuwal has revalidated that point, even if with bolder relief.

From these reactions it is obvious the PDP and its government do not seem to appreciate the enormity of the damage they have done to this country in the last 15 years. Only people without conscience would still see the party as having something good to offer Nigerians. The party can only go more brutal and commit serial illegalities in its bid to rid Tambuwal of the speakership, further alienating itself in the process. The ideal thing to do, if indeed the ruling party is disciplined as Ojougboh wants us to believe, is to go to court to challenge Tambuwal’s defection rather than embark on self-help. If the PDP and its government are not comfortable seeking redress in the law court because of the slow pace at which justice travels in the country, they are partly to blame for that tragedy. They have had all the time in the world to reform the judiciary to make it more functional. Now that they see themselves as likely candidates or victims of that slow pace of justice, they resorted to self-help, thereby worsening their case. One may not know the party that would succeed the PDP; it is at least getting clear by the day that the ruling party has since lost whatever its allure was.

Again, one thing no one can take away from the Speaker is that he has managed the affairs of the house well in his time. Even if the PDP now ‘exhumes’ some phantom sins against him, Nigerians would see through the shenanigans: why now? What the ruling party does not seem to realise is that more surprises could be in the offing. Given the government’s and PDP’s frenetic reactions to the incident so far, one may deduce that they both do not seem to appreciate the unfolding political drama in the country.  Suppose it turns out that Tambuwal’s defection was only the ‘champion’? Suppose ‘knockout’ is on the way?