The challenges before Tambuwal

Exactly one week ago, Monday June 6, 2011, Barrister Aminu Waziri Tambuwal  from Sokoto was overwhelmingly voted as the  12th Speaker of the House of Representatives contrary to the PDP’s zoning arrangement which had earlier zoned the Speakership to the South West geo-political zone  even thought the region was able to produce only four PDP MPs in the last general elections, all of them from Oyo State  who were able to survive the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) hurricane which swept across the region.

Unlike in 1999, 2003 and 2007 when virtually all candidates endorsed by the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) were either elected unopposed or had little or no antagonism from their colleagues, this time around, the atmosphere in the hallowed green chamber  of the House of Representatives became very hot and charged for the first time in history of the legislature since the return to civilian rule in 1999.

A close look at the results of the election  which lasted four six hours in the House chamber last Monday,  shows that Tambuwal won 252 votes which is well over the 2/3rd majority of the House membership which is 240. This means that,  the new Speaker has an overwhelming support with this number and may therefore not face much problems either in the near or far future.  However, this is not to mean that the Sokoto-born lawyer does have any challenges to face. In fact, Daily Trust can reveal that he is already facing lots of them.

The first of these challenges, according close observers of the politics of the House, is from his own party the PDP which now sees him as a dissident, a ‘prodigal son’ who refused to adhere to the party’s rules on zoning. At first, the PDP kicked against his emergence as Speaker, 24 hours later they made a u-turn . According to a statement issued by the National Secretary of the PDP 24 hours after the election: “While the party believes in, and indeed encourages the exercise of freedom of choice for all Nigerians including members of the National Assembly, it is important to reiterate that the principle of zoning is still an integral part of the PDP constitution.”  The coming weeks or even months will surely be revealing but it remains to be seen if the party  has genuinely accepted him.

In the same vein, Tambuwal  has a much more bigger challenge  to face with the Presidency which  did everything possible to stop him, including attempts to arrest or stop him from entering the House chamber which explains why he had to disguise in a black suit and Fedora ‘resource control” hat.

For President Goodluck Jonathan or any other president for that matter, it serves him no good to have as Speaker of the House one with whom they may have a kind of cat and mouse relationship.

However, political analysts believe that, the Presidency had more reasons in supporting Rep Mulikat Adeola-Akande which include an alleged  attempt to bring in a constitutional amendment bill  which will limit the tenure of elected President and governors to a single six-year term beginning from 2015 and another one that will require a simple majority win in presidential election instead of the present requirement which stipulates that, a candidate must win 25 percent of the votes cast in at least 2/3rd of the 26 states of the federation.

With emergence of David Mark as Senate president, Jonathan needs not worry because Mark, many believe would naturally do  any bidding of the president but Tambuwal  is seen as a big stumbling block in the way. Mending fences with the PDP and the Presidency is indeed a great challenge for the new Speaker.

More so, for the first time also, opposition parties have played a key role in the election of the Speaker. In fact, all opposition parties were the first to publicly endorse Tambuwal and they unanimously voted for him. The 39 MPs of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) for instance,  all supported Tambuwal just as the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) MPs were not only directed by their leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu to “disown” their Yoruba sister Mulikat, Governor Rauf Aregbesola was seated in the chamber for hours ostensibly to coral the MPs to tow the party’s line. The same thing with All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP) and All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA). 46 percent of the 360 members are of opposition parties which is 158 of them, leaving the PDP with 54 percent. Unlike in 2007 when Patricia Etteh schemed out the AC members in the sharing of committee chairmanship just because the party  refused to join the government of national unity of late president Umaru Musa Yar’adua, now, Tambuwal has a big challenge of rubbing the back of  the minority MPs same as they did to him a week ago.

The north easterners are the bigger losers in the present arrangement because though there are more PDP members from that region than there are from the South East, the Igbos now have the deputy speaker which in the PDP arrangement was meant for the North East.  It will be too suicidal for Tambuwal to leave out ranking lawmakers like Jerry Manwe (PDP, Taraba) and Yakubu Dogara (PDP, Bauchi) who were pro-zoning because of their standing in the parliament.

Sources close to the new Speaker revealed that, he was said to have brokered a deal with Rep Muraino Ajibola (PDP, Oyo) who was one of the front runners for the plum position before he withdrew at the 11th minute. He too would have to be appeased just as his main rival  Mulikat who is the second most popular member in the chamber today. Doing this may not be a problem to Tambuwal as he may follow the example of his predecessors, Dimeji Bankole and Aminu Bello Masari  who were able to manage their opponents Etteh and Dr. Usman Bugaje by according them their respect and giving them recognition in the chamber during debates on motions and bills.

The ongoing case against Bankole over a N10 billion loan and other charges filed against him will continue to worry the Tambuwal leadership since they were part of the leadership which  is being accused. It is certain that, if Bankole is sinking he may not sink alone. The question is: How will they be able to bring him out of this? Only time can tell.

Above all,. however, Nigerians expect the new Speaker to do something about the outrageous allowances the MPs are said to be collecting. Tambuwal has the onerous task of striking a balance between this and at the same time satisfying MPs on the need for them to have good allowances like the previous Assembly. And at the same time doing something  about the battered image of the House which he admitted is at its lowest ebb which may not be far away from, among others, the  “huge” allowances they collect.

In the 6th House, there were 84 standing committees among which there were “lucrative or juicy” ones just as there are “dried ones”; it is therefore absolutely impossible for the Speaker to make each of the 252 persons that voted for him a committee chairman or members of the most sought for committees at a time when everybody expects to be paid back. This is the Tambuwal dilemma.

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