in

Tambuwal dares Police IG- Why they are after the embattled Speaker

Speaker of House of Representatives, Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal is the ‘Most Wanted’ political figure in Nigeria at the moment. The heat is on the APC Sokoto guber hopeful for dumping the ruling PDP for the opposition APC.

President Goodluck Jonathan, who would still fly the PDP flag in 2015 is obviously uncomfortable with Tambuwal’s moves and therefore, wants his wings clipped at all cost.  First, with Tambuwal retaining his seat and office as APC chieftain, opposition to his much maligned and criticised presidency would grow and rubbish him further. The House under APC control would also frustrate him the more.  He might even be impeached.

Also a major headache to Jonathan is the Speaker’s popularity and mass appeal. From East to South South, West and his Northernn base, Tambuwal has followers who will support his preferred presidential candidate next year.

Tambuwal’s roots in the Caliphate is also a political capital to APC, hence the fear now gripping PDP over his long expected defection. (He was recently turbanned Mutawallen Sokoto by the Sultan, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar 111).

And with the fate of decamped lawmakers hanging in court, those who are plotting for the Speakers ouster have to wait for a long time, especially when the PDP don’t have the absolute majority to impeach him.  (Interestingly, some PDP House members even support Tambuwal).

Until the House sits on December 10, 2014, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal remains the Speaker of the House of Reps amidst serious plot by political opponents to flush him out.

THE MAN, AMINU WAZIRI TAMBUWAL

Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, 48, is the Speaker of the House of Representatives.  Now a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) he represents the Kebbe/Tambuwal Federal Constituency of Sokoto State.

He attended Tambuwal Primary School, Tambuwal, Sokoto State, where he obtained his First School Leaving Certificate in 1979; and Government Teachers’ College, Dogon-Daji, where he obtained the Teachers Grade 11 Certificate in 1984. He then proceeded to Usman Dan Fodio University, Sokoto, where he studied Law, graduating with an LLB (Hons) degree in 1991.  Tambuwal completed his one year compulsory legal studies at the Nigerian Law School, Lagos, obtained his BL and was called to the Bar in 1992.

Among his professional affiliations, Tambuwal has been a very active member of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), over the years. He started off as Public Relations Officer of the NBA, Sokoto State chapter between 1996 and 1997. He was a member of the Constitution Review Committee of the NBA (19971998). He was the Sokoto branch Secretary of the association (19971998) and Assistant National Financial Secretary of the NBA (19982000).

From 2000 and 2002, Tambuwal was the first Assistant National Secretary of the Association. He is also a member of the Body of Benchers, Nigeria; International Bar Association, and the American Bar Association among others.

Tambuwal started learning the legislative ropes from 1999 to 2000, while working as Personal Assistant on Legislative Affairs to Senator Abdullahi Wali, the then Senate Leader.

In 2003, he decided to run for a legislative seat as representative of the Kebbi/Tambuwal Federal Constituency. He was elected into the House of Representatives on the platform of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP).

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.

Tambuwal has held several offices in the House of Reps. In 2005, he became the Minority Leader of the House until he defected to the PDP. Upon his re-election to the House in 2007, he was also elected the Deputy Chief Whip.

At various times, Tambuwal, who is also the Mutawallen Sokoto, has been a member of several committees including the House Committees on Rules and Business, Communications, Judiciary, Inter-Parliamentary and Water Resources. He was also a member of the House Ad-hoc Committee on Constitution Review.

He was chairman of the Ad-hoc committee that reviewed the report of the controversial power probe committee headed by Ndudi Elumelu; chairman, House Sub-Committee on the Bill for an Act to Amend the Land Use Act, and acting chairman, House Committee on Power.

He was leader of the Nigerian delegation to African, Caribbean, Pacific and European Union Parliamentary Assembly (ACP-EU) and served as Vice-Chairman, Economic Committee ACP-EU, held in Prague, Czech Republic in April 2009.

On October 28, 2014, Aminu Tambuwal, CFR, formally defected from the ruling PDP to the opposition APC.

On Friday, November 14, 2014, a group of friends, associates, colleagues and admirers cutting across all ages, ethnic, social, religious, political and geographical divides presented to him the Expression of Interest and Nomination forms to participate in the presidential primaries of the APC for the 2015 Presidential Election. But on Wednesday, November 18, 2014, he withdrew from the presidential race. The Speaker has, however, picked the APC Sokoto governorship form.

-UCHE OLEHI

Encomium

Written by Encomium

A media, tech and events company.

What do you think?

Leave a Reply

Avatar

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Tambuwal dares Police IG – ‘Arrest me if you can’

‘APC wil lose Lagos state if it fields Ambode’ – Primate Elijah Ayodele predicts