Tambuwal: The master of ‘strategic defection’

(Metropole, Abuja) When on June 6th, 2011, Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal representing Kebbe/Tambuwal Federal Constituency of Sokoto State in the House of Representatives emerged Speaker of the House, feathers were ruffled. The establishment was surprised. And clearly a palace coup had taken place in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Hon. Tambuwal emerged against the wishes of the hierarchy of the ruling party which preferred Hon. Mulikat Adeola-Akande, who is now the House Majority Leader.

From that day, the rat race began. And the focus was: “Tambuwal must go” by whatever means. But like a cat with nine lives, he weathered the storm, but not without the active support of members of the opposition Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), on whose backing he got the plum position. (ACN is one of the parties that merged last year into the All Progressive Congress, APC).

His defection today didn’t come as a surprise to many who think it’s long overdue given his body language in recent times. So much so that the PDP had on numerous occasions accused him of anti-party activities. Unperturbed, he continued with the romance with the opposition, and the rest is now history.

The Speaker of the House of Representatives is now a member of APC. This is the first time since 1999 that a member of the opposition and a non-PDP member will be Speaker of the House.

It has indeed been a long walk to the opposition for Tambuwal who survived numerous impeachment plots by members of the PDP in the House. Notable among the plot was when the Speaker received the Abubakar-Baraje led faction of the PDP during a visit to the National Assembly to brief members on why they pulled out of the main PDP. That move by Tambuwal did not go down well with the powers that be in PDP and consequently a plot was reportedly hatched to impeach him.

In the thick of the impeachment plot, it was alleged that N2.5 million each was given to some members to effect a leadership change. But the required number of votes could not be mustered by the plotters because the House was heavily polarized. And the plot failed. Tambuwal again had cause to be grateful to members of the opposition.

The die seemed cast when the Speaker attended the APC stakeholders meeting in Sokoto State recently even as a member of the PDP. At the event Governor Aliyu Wamakko said “I know your eyes are on Speaker Tambuwal, but let me tell you that he had been part and parcel of the formation of this party and he has been attending its activities”.

The Speaker is not new to the politics of defections. A lawyer, he cut his teeth in politics as personal assistant on legislative matters to the then Senate Leader, Sen. Abdullahi Wali, a high ranking PDP member from 1999-2003. In 2003, he was elected as member of the House of Representatives on the platform of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP). According to information on his Wikipedia page “Few months to the 2007 general elections, he defected to the Democratic People’s Party (DPP), 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, Alhaji Aliyu Wamakko dumped the party for the PDP, Tambuwal also followed suit.”

It can be thus said that the Rt. Hon. Aminu Tambuwal is the most defected politician in the history of the Fourth Republic, having moved from PDP, ANPP, DPP, and now the APC. But indeed the long walk to the APC can be regarded as the longest in the political career of the Speaker.

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