Exclusive: Tambuwal Sets to Dump PDP, May Quit As Speaker

Posted by African Examiner Featured, Latest Headlines Thursday, September 25th, 2014

Ayodele Afolabi, Abuja

Barring any last minute change of plan, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal is set to declare his intention to contest for the President.

Following his resolve to pursue his ambition on All Progressive Congress (APC) platform, sources say he will quit his position as Speaker.

His decision to quit as Speaker, according to an impeccable source in the House, is to avoid overheating the polity and also on moral ground.

As a prelude to the declaration, Tambuwal is set to be turban in Sokoto at the weekend by the Sultan of Sokoto as Matawali of Sokoto.

Our source said that the turbaning is partly to set the stage for the realisation of his ambition and also to test his popularity.

Prior to now, the Speaker has been doing nationwide consultations to sell his candidature to some political and opinion leaders across the country including former President, Olusegun Obasanjo.

The source disclosed to the Africa Examiner that it was a question of days before the Speaker would make his intention known to Nigerians.

“Mr Speaker has been under intense pressure from his political associates, friends and a cross section of the APC leadership to declare his intention to contest for the post of president.”

The body language of Tambuwal since he became Speaker shows that he has his preference for the opposition party, the then Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN which help installing him as Speaker against the zoning arrangement put in place by his party, the PDP.

The party had zoned the position of the Speaker to the Southwest but the calculation was altered by him when against all expectation he emerged speaker by beating PDP anointed candidate Mulikat Adeola Akande.

His intention is however creating tension in the House as members from the South West are said to be strategising to take what rightfully belongs to them.