THE Right Honourable Aminu Tambuwal,
incumbent Speaker of Nigerian’s House of Representative, has undoubtedly
established himself as a master of masters in the game of politics, albeit the
Nigeria’s muddy waters of politics.
The truth of the matter as
evidenced, so far, by the way he emerged as Speaker of the House of
Representatives in 2011 and the master stroke presentation of decamping from
the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to the All Progressives, APC, shall remain a
good case study of political manoeuvring. Even the late great Kingsley Ozumba
Mbadiwe would have paid tribute to this young man on his political sagacity.
Take a brief look on how he
presented his crossing from the PDP to the APC to his colleagues on Wednesday
October 29, 2014, before he brought the gavel down while adjourning the House
“till December 3, 2014”. Can you beat that? It was a master stroke of a great
strategist. He got the ruling Party [PDP], the government of the day, ditto
Nigerians where he wanted them. The presentation, the way it came, left no room
of harming his political interest: constitutionally, politically or legally
with anybody. This is the Exodus but let us go to the Genesis for a moment.
It was Monday, June 6, 2011. The
newly inaugurated lower House of the National Assembly met to elect its own
officers. The election was faith accompli, so it looked as members came with a
road map of the ruling party on who to be elected to which office.
The position of the Speaker for the
House of Representatives had been zoned to the South West of the country and
the person expected to take the chair was the favoured Alhaja Mulikat
Akande-Adeola from Osun State. This was the clear directive of the ruling,
largest party in Africa. But on the floor of the House that morning, another
arrangement was put in place by an “obscure group of dissidents”. The PDP even
sent some of its “intimidating” national officers to the floor of the House to
ensure that the “status quo ante instruction” of the Party was carried out.
At the end of the election on the
floor of the House, an “unknown” Tambuwal from Sokoto State had beaten the
favoured Mulikat from Osun State, to become the Speaker with a deafening “sky
and moon slides” votes.
The Nigerian House of
Representatives had spoken! That became the “death” of the ruling party’
supremacy in the House of Representatives. This happened despite the fact that
the PDP had the overwhelming majority in the House at that time. That act
signalled the birth of an independent House of Representatives. And the
characteristic of that change was Honourable Aminu Tambuwal! That was in 2011.
Here again, on Wednesday, 0ctober
29, 2014, the same man – Tambuwal, created new rules for the game; a master
rule that will see him remaining the Speaker of the House of Representatives
till the end of this 7th Assembly, by the grace of superior political display.
There is something politically thick in this young man that all young
politicians can learn from. Yes, l shall make him my case study for the next
few years by the grace of God. The appropriate question, therefore, is what are
some of the changes that Tambuwal has brought to the political game between now
and 2015?
One, if any institution, ditto the
National Assembly, is allowed a free hand of operating its own rules and
regulations without outside interference, fact remains that such institution
will perform better to the benefit of the larger society, the populace and the
citizenry. Contrast the matured leadership and performances of this 7th House
of Representatives to the previous ones to understand my presentation. I am not
saying that this very 7th House of Representatives has reached the “promised
land” but surely it is “closer to Mecca than Medina”.
Two, there is no power in this land
of Nigeria that can remove Tambuwal as Speaker of the House between now and
when the House tenure shall expire next year. Yes, not even deploying any
reckless exercise of Executive powers can remove him; the Judiciary cannot do
it or the House members under whatever type of inducement, would want to pull
down the concrete house they unanimously and maturely built. It is Tambuwal
“for life” in this Assembly session!
Three, if he goes on to contest the
governorship of his home state of Sokoto, it is obvious that PDP shall lose
that state to APC because there is no enough force-joining between
Bafarawa/Shagari that can dislodge Wamako/Tambuwal. This is a concluded
historical fact.
Four, until this 7th National
Assembly mostly at the lower House, ends officially, it is for PDP to tread
gently on what it can push through the House of Representatives. This is a
naked truth for obvious reason: this man called Tambuwal enjoys the confidence
of his colleagues because they elected him in the first place. And fact is that
he has avoided any banana peel while leading them so far. He has led with
respect, decorum and maturity, the same way David Mark has led the Senate with
respect of maturity, honour and decorum.
Both Principal Officers of the two
Houses presently, shall lead their members to “Jerusalem” unhindered, on this
trip. No Jupiter can stop them.
What more can l say about this game
changing man? He shall remain a cherished catalyst that deepened the refining
methodology of democracy in Nigerian. He shall remain, in the annals of
Nigerian history, a man who changed the political game positively at a time
when there was scarcity of such people in Nigeria. His shall remain a historically
vindicated Voyage of discovery!
Mr. Godwin Etakibuebu, a commentator
on current affairs, wrote from Lagos.
Source:Vanguard News
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