He has made it clear that he would rather concentrate on the current mandate given to him by his colleagues to lead them. But ADESUWA TSAN writes that Speaker Aminu Waziri Tambuwal is still within the rings of pressures from his colleagues to run for 2015 presidency.
There are indications that the House of Representatives will be busy when it resumes from recess next Tuesday. But whether it is going to be busy with legislative activities or politicking is another matter altogether, considering that many of the lawmakers have matters of the division within the PDP and how it affects the party’s hold on the majority in the House as well as the call on Speaker Aminu Waziri Tambuwal to run for the 2015 presidency.
There is no doubt what the speaker had on his mind as the House resumes. He has maintained that he is not dwelling on any future ambition for now but has chosen to, for the period left for his tenure as the leader of the Green chamber, to concentrate on promoting the well being of Nigerians through good laws and other instruments that impact positively on Nigerians. But this is a position many of his colleagues believe he should extend to a national frontier.
It is no longer news that he is under immense pressure from his colleagues to run for the office of the president of Nigeria against the incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan in 2015.
In fact, like the golden fish that has no hiding place, Tambuwal, it was gathered, has not been able to shake off various groups and individuals that are bent on pushing him to consider taking a shot at the plush job of leading the nation as the president based on what they described as his “independent mindedness and focus on what will be beneficial to the country at large, rather than a few privileged people”.
This call doesn’t come as a surprise. Recall that the speaker and his deputy, Emeka Ihedioha emerged as “candidates of the people”, against the wishes of the presidency who favoured and anointed the candidacy of Hon Mulikat Akande-Adeola who later emerged as leader of the majority in the House. His election was largely made successful because opposition members of the House identified and aligned with his ambition and thus cast their votes in support, thereby putting him ahead of the presidency’s candidate.
Based on his emergence, the speaker has enjoyed tremendous support from his colleagues. Unarguably, his regime has so far, been without rancour or the usual shenanigans that the House of Representatives has been known for. When confronted with the question of the coziness of the opposition with the speaker who is from the ruling party, members from opposition are always quick to disclose that they do not feel any partisan difference with the speaker. They contend that decisions and moves made in the chamber reflect the wishes of Nigerians and not particularly an agenda of any party.
For instance, during the election of leadership of the House, he took a stand against the wishes of PDP. Again, when the PDP-led government decided to increase the pump price of fuel by withdrawing subsidy on petroleum, he led the House to take a stand against the policy by calling for a suspension of the policy till consultations were made and a lower price and palliative measures reached in the benefit on the masses.
So it came as no surprise when the deputy spokesman of the House, Hon Victor Ogene, member on the platform of APGA from Anambra State, said earlier in the year while responding to enquiries on whether the speaker was already thinking of his next move towards the presidency that; “the House will support the ambition of Mr Speaker if he decides to run for presidency in 2015”. His reason? “Among other things, he has proven that he can do the job, putting the interest of Nigerians above all other primordial interest.”
Similarly, some top northern politicians, especially from the opposition mega party, the All Progressives Congress, have been dangling the bait of a presidency ticket to Tambuwal if he agrees to cross carpet from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party to the party.
It will recalled that it was widely reported that former Head of State and presidential candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change in the 2011 general election, Major-General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) and the National Leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria, Senator Bola Tinubu, reportedly met with the speaker to convince him to consider dumping the PDP and joining ranks with the APC.
And so, in the midst of the crisis threatening to divide the PDP and a presidency that is struggling to hold on to power over the party and get submission from its members to the will of the party for 2015, a group of lawmakers has now taken it upon themselves to ensure that Tambuwal takes a shot at the presidency in 2015.
No matter his location in the world, the speaker receives a wide audience daily seeking to sell their plans to him on the issue. Not just stopping at consultations, they have now moved to trying to get a commitment from the speaker that he will take up the challenge against President Jonathan, and have even started drumming up support for the speaker, going as far as taking their campaigns overseas.
Just last week, they were in South Africa where the speaker was attending the Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference and now, the on-going conference in America. The South African trip was a good outing for the group as they capitalised on the presence of the attendance of not only federal lawmakers, but that of states and a few of state assembly speakers to speak on why change must come to Nigeria through “a credible bi-partisan leader”.
So far, the speaker has categorically said no to campaigning for presidency or any office. He said during a dinner organised for the Nigerian delegation and other Nigerians in South Africa during the Commonwealth parliamentary summit that he believes attention should not be on politics at the moment but on how to develop the country with things that can make statements on the dividends of democracy.
“Our achievements should speak for us. We should put up structures that will speak for us, that will campaign to Nigerians to vote for us when the time comes and not a situation that nothing is working and yet we are busy clamouring for reelection when we have nothing to show for the mandate that was given to us before. Two years is still a long way away, let us concentrate on governance and making the country better for our people”, Tambuwal said.
He compared the infrastructure in South Africa to that of Nigeria, while lamenting that a country as rich as Nigeria has failed to make things work because of bad governments with misplaced priorities such as putting politics before good governance instead of the other way round”. For him, when the time is right, he will take the bull by the horn.
Meanwhile, spokesman of the House, Hon Zakari Mohammed, confirmed that underground campaign for the speaker is nothing “out of place since he is a Nigerian and reserves the right to run for any office”.
“There is nothing wrong in it if House members are campaigning for the speaker to be president in 2015. He is a Nigerian and he is eligible to run for any office he desires. Is there anything wrong in that?’, he asked.
.....As ‘New PDP’ Raises Dust
The heat is on in the battle between the presidency/Tukur PDP and the Baraje/ Atiku ‘New PDP’. Deputy minority leader of the House, Hon Samaila Kawu yesterday raised the alarm over underhand moves to use the crisis in the PDP to destabilize the House by throwing up party issues for debate rather than focusing on national issues.
Sounding a warning to such “trouble makers”, Kawu said, “the House of Representatives is one and indivisible body of 360 members who are committed to the development, political stability and progress of Nigeria. We will never shy away from those things that will bring happiness to all Nigerians. We are however, using this opportunity to call on those people who may want to use the crisis in the PDP to forment trouble in the House to stay away from the House.
We won’t allow anybody to divide us.
“The present crisis is a PDP affair and has nothing to do with the House as a by-partisan parliament which puts away party affiliation for national interest.
It is obvious that some people are very jittery over the mass movement of PDP members to the New PDP and even other political parties and in their desperate attempts to cause trouble and confusion they may want to capitalise on the crisis to forment trouble in the House. They should stay away from the House as we cannot be divided.”
He added that at no time did they contemplate or agree that the Impeachment of the president is on their agenda as a parliament and as such it is a figment of anybody’s imagination to suggest anything like that as they will “continue with legislation that will put food on the table of Nigerians and not waste our time on none-issues because the 7th House is a serious chamber that cannot be distracted.”
The earlier they realised that the House is unshakeable the better for them. They should rather gear their energy towards solving the multifarious crisis bedeviled their party than trying to fight a lost battle.
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