Plateau Rep Says Tambuwal Errs On Defection

Posted by African Examiner Latest Headlines, News Monday, November 10th, 2014

Agabus Pwanagba, Jos

Two weeks after, more reactions are still trailing the defection of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Aminu Tambuwal, to the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) and his refusal to vacate his seat, as a Plateau Federal Lawmaker, Hon. Bitrus Kaze, representing Jos South/Jos East Constituency said the fate Tambuwal was trying to avoid, will eventually befall him if he remains in his present position.

The Lawmaker who was among those suspended from the House during Rt, Hon. Demeji Bankole era as the Speaker, maintained, “My take is simply the provision of the law; it is very clear, as a member of any legislative arm in the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as far as the 1999 constitution is concern, you cannot defect to any party, except if the party that brought you to that seat has a crack or it has merged with another party. These are the two fundamental reasons.

“With due respect to Mr. Speaker, the PDP has no crack, there is no faction. I’m not aware if the PDP has merged with any party.

“We had called on him when 37 members of the House defected, from PDP to the APC, to declare their seats vacant.

“If I were Mr. Speaker (Aminu Tambuwal), having defected to the APC, the must honourable thing is to resign from the position of the Speakership. That would take away unnecessary tension, chaos and problems. We are about rounding up a tenure, why do need to round up on a sad note like that? He asked.

“I have never seen any adjournment that is so abrupt, an adjournment after motion of adjournment has been taken, then an announcement comes.

“If you check the House order paper, there is a specific time provided for announcement. Once a motion for adjournment has been moved, and seconded, what is left for Mr. Speaker is to hit the gavel, announcing the date of adjournment.

“But for Mr. Speaker to allow the adjournment take place before his announcement of defection, very clearly shows that there is something he feared will happen. And I’m sorry that the thing that he fears will happe will eventually happen.” Kaze insisted.