FACTS emerged on Wednesday why the Peoples
Democratic Party is afraid of sanctioning the Speaker of the House of
Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, and his deputy, Emeka Ihedioha, for
violating the party’s zoning arrangement.
Checks by our correspondents showed that the PDP was afraid of incurring the wrath of the sizeable number of Representatives who voted for the two men, and their sympathisers in the Senate. The thinking in the PDP, sources told our correspondents, was that the National Assembly might turn against President Goodluck Jonathan if Tambuwal and Ihedioha were removed for the party’s chosen candidates.
The Speaker and his deputy were enthroned on June 6 through a conspiracy between the PDP members of the House and opposition lawmakers. The aim of the plot was to rubbish the PDP zoning arrangement.
The ruling party had zoned the Speakership to the South-West but the lawmakers gave it to Tambuwal from the North-East. At the time, the lawmakers had described the move as the “triumph of democracy.”
But the Chairman of the PDP’s Board of Trustees and former President Olusegun Obasanjo recently asked Tambuwal and Ihedioha to resign their positions, arguing that their election violated the party’s power-sharing formula.
Our correspondents learnt that the party was unwilling to defer to Obasanjo because it feared that forcing the Speaker to resign might lead to a move by Tambuwal’s supporters and opposition lawmakers to plot the impeachment of Jonathan as a way of hitting back at the PDP.
“The PDP National Working Committee felt thatObasanjo’s demand was an invitation to chaos,” a member of the NWC told one of our correspondents on Wednesday. He asked not to be named.
The source said the President had more problems than he could cope with, including the Boko Haram challenge, and that it would be crushing “to have a hostile parliament at the same time.”
The NWC member explained, “If we insist on the Speaker’s removal, it is the President that will feel the heat. The House members will think that Jonathan is behind the move to get rid of the Speaker and they can transfer their anger to him. We do not want anything that will compound our problems.”
He said that was why the PDP’s stand on the election of Tambuwal was diplomatic.
He said, “This is the first time that the party would be ridiculed by its members. As a political party which wants to take the issue of indiscipline seriously, we need to call them to order.
“Don’t forget that there is tension in the polity concerning the bombings that are going on, we decided that it is better not to heat up the polity as a result of this issue.
“Apart from this, we should not forget that we also have strong opposition among those who planted the Speaker and his deputy there. Our hands are tied because we have a strong opposition in the country and also the majority of our members in the House who belong to the PDP are even against us in this regard.”
The acting National Chairman of the party, Alhaji Kawu Baraje, recently told journalists in Abuja that the party would not prevail on the Speaker and his deputy to resign.
He said that Tambuwal and Ihedioha had apologised for violating the power-sharing arrangement of the party, adding that there was no need to punish them.
The PDP NWC member further said that the party’s investigations showed that the opposition lawmakers in the House and the northern elements who supported Tambuwal’s election were ready to cash in on the crisis that his removal would cause.
He said, “You will recall that it was yesterday (Monday) that we raised the alarm that the Congress for Progressive Change was plotting the impeachment of the President. It will amount to a political suicide, if we champion Tambuwal’s removal
“Remember, 252 out of 360 members elected Tambuwal. It will be disastrous if the members move against the President. Any move to remove him may result in a backlash against Jonathan. Even in the Senate, the Speaker has sympathisers.”
The NWC member, who earlier explained the stand of the party on Obasanjo’s demand, said the North deliberately worked against the PDP’s power-sharing arrangement because it felt it had been short-changed.
He said, “By the previous arrangement, the Senate Presidency should have gone to the South if the President came from there. You remember that during the Olusegun Obasanjo administration, the South produced the Senate President.
“The North believes the Speaker should come from the North because the speaker is believed to be strong administratively than the Senate President. On the issue of the suggestion that Tambuwal and Ihedioha should spend only two years as Speaker and Deputy Speaker respectively, honestly, I don’t know how this can be done.”
Meanwhile, the PDP National Publicity Secretary, Prof Rufai Alkali, and the National Vice-Chairman, South-West, Alhaji Tajudeen Oladipo, have said that Obasanjo remains a leader in the party.
While fielding question from journalists in Osogbo on Tuesday, Alkali and Oladipo said Obasanjo should not be criticised over his comments on discipline and the power sharing arrangement of the party.
Alkali spoke in Osogbo when he paid a condolence visit to Oladipo, who lost his father last Friday.
By Niyi Odebode, Olusola Fabiyi, Fidelis Soriwei andTunde Odesola
Courtesy Of: Punch
Checks by our correspondents showed that the PDP was afraid of incurring the wrath of the sizeable number of Representatives who voted for the two men, and their sympathisers in the Senate. The thinking in the PDP, sources told our correspondents, was that the National Assembly might turn against President Goodluck Jonathan if Tambuwal and Ihedioha were removed for the party’s chosen candidates.
The Speaker and his deputy were enthroned on June 6 through a conspiracy between the PDP members of the House and opposition lawmakers. The aim of the plot was to rubbish the PDP zoning arrangement.
The ruling party had zoned the Speakership to the South-West but the lawmakers gave it to Tambuwal from the North-East. At the time, the lawmakers had described the move as the “triumph of democracy.”
But the Chairman of the PDP’s Board of Trustees and former President Olusegun Obasanjo recently asked Tambuwal and Ihedioha to resign their positions, arguing that their election violated the party’s power-sharing formula.
Our correspondents learnt that the party was unwilling to defer to Obasanjo because it feared that forcing the Speaker to resign might lead to a move by Tambuwal’s supporters and opposition lawmakers to plot the impeachment of Jonathan as a way of hitting back at the PDP.
“The PDP National Working Committee felt thatObasanjo’s demand was an invitation to chaos,” a member of the NWC told one of our correspondents on Wednesday. He asked not to be named.
The source said the President had more problems than he could cope with, including the Boko Haram challenge, and that it would be crushing “to have a hostile parliament at the same time.”
The NWC member explained, “If we insist on the Speaker’s removal, it is the President that will feel the heat. The House members will think that Jonathan is behind the move to get rid of the Speaker and they can transfer their anger to him. We do not want anything that will compound our problems.”
He said that was why the PDP’s stand on the election of Tambuwal was diplomatic.
He said, “This is the first time that the party would be ridiculed by its members. As a political party which wants to take the issue of indiscipline seriously, we need to call them to order.
“Don’t forget that there is tension in the polity concerning the bombings that are going on, we decided that it is better not to heat up the polity as a result of this issue.
“Apart from this, we should not forget that we also have strong opposition among those who planted the Speaker and his deputy there. Our hands are tied because we have a strong opposition in the country and also the majority of our members in the House who belong to the PDP are even against us in this regard.”
The acting National Chairman of the party, Alhaji Kawu Baraje, recently told journalists in Abuja that the party would not prevail on the Speaker and his deputy to resign.
He said that Tambuwal and Ihedioha had apologised for violating the power-sharing arrangement of the party, adding that there was no need to punish them.
The PDP NWC member further said that the party’s investigations showed that the opposition lawmakers in the House and the northern elements who supported Tambuwal’s election were ready to cash in on the crisis that his removal would cause.
He said, “You will recall that it was yesterday (Monday) that we raised the alarm that the Congress for Progressive Change was plotting the impeachment of the President. It will amount to a political suicide, if we champion Tambuwal’s removal
“Remember, 252 out of 360 members elected Tambuwal. It will be disastrous if the members move against the President. Any move to remove him may result in a backlash against Jonathan. Even in the Senate, the Speaker has sympathisers.”
The NWC member, who earlier explained the stand of the party on Obasanjo’s demand, said the North deliberately worked against the PDP’s power-sharing arrangement because it felt it had been short-changed.
He said, “By the previous arrangement, the Senate Presidency should have gone to the South if the President came from there. You remember that during the Olusegun Obasanjo administration, the South produced the Senate President.
“The North believes the Speaker should come from the North because the speaker is believed to be strong administratively than the Senate President. On the issue of the suggestion that Tambuwal and Ihedioha should spend only two years as Speaker and Deputy Speaker respectively, honestly, I don’t know how this can be done.”
Meanwhile, the PDP National Publicity Secretary, Prof Rufai Alkali, and the National Vice-Chairman, South-West, Alhaji Tajudeen Oladipo, have said that Obasanjo remains a leader in the party.
While fielding question from journalists in Osogbo on Tuesday, Alkali and Oladipo said Obasanjo should not be criticised over his comments on discipline and the power sharing arrangement of the party.
Alkali spoke in Osogbo when he paid a condolence visit to Oladipo, who lost his father last Friday.
By Niyi Odebode, Olusola Fabiyi, Fidelis Soriwei andTunde Odesola
Courtesy Of: Punch
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