By Ibrahim Muye Yahaya
As we count down to the crucial 2015 general elections, the dice is being thrown on the fortunes of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), All Progressives Congress (APC) and a handful of other significant politicians in the country when it’s all over.
Speaker Aminu Waziri Tambuwal is one of the few high-profile politicians in Nigeria that belongs to that class. Even though it is not yet obvious which position Tambuwal will seek in 2015. With various options open to him, he has managed to keep everybody, including his political family, guessing on the next step he is likely to take. Some speculate he will contest for the office of the President; others say it could be governor of Sokoto state.
It is interesting however that since 1999, efforts by those who have held Tambuwal’s position as Speaker of the House of Representatives to win election into other office, legislative or executive, have proved futile.
Tambuwal’s journey to this day began in 2003 when he won election into the House of Representatives to represent Kebbe/Tambuwal federal constituency.
On June 6, 2011 he triumphed over the preferred PDP candidate, Mrs Mulikat Adeola, to be elected Speaker, not a small achievement given the prevailing tradition of leadership imposition by the executive. Since his emergence as the number four citizen in the country against all permutations within the ruling party, the presidency and the PDP have not stopped viewing with some ambivalence. Under his leadership, House of Representatives has become a more vivacious arm of government Nigerians come to respect and take serious notice of. These feats were achieved as the members discharge their duties without unwarranted meddling into their official conduct by the House leadership or the executive.
Tambuwal’s stance and that of the Green Chamber on national issues, often at variance with the government, illustrate that the chamber has ceased being a rubber stamp or the annex of the executive.
Whichever way one stands, there is no denying that Tambuwal today is a factor in Nigeria’s political terrain. He has proven his leadership qualities. Whichever office in the land he eventually settles for as we approach 2015, he won’t be a beginner in pioneering the affair of our great country. Having exhibited his leadership knowhow in pioneering the affairs of the Green Chamber, he is not going to be a weak, religious, regional chauvinist or a tribal jingoist. His wide contacts and acquaintances across the country with people irrespective of religion, ethnic, party affiliations and region has qualified him for other office. He is the brand of leadership Nigerians wish for at this critical time, especially as the foundation of its unity is been shaken with religious, regional and ethnic sentiments.
If he chooses to return home to serve the people of his state as governor, that’s all well and good; because it is not certain at the moment who the successor to Governor Magatakarda Wamakko would be. His cosmopolitan nature, charisma and experience have given him some edge that he would be the perfect man to fit in.
Another choice for him to remain relevant in the nation’s political terrain in 2015 is if he chooses to contest for the senatorial Seat. Having been in the House of Representatives for a decade, serving as deputy minority whip and eventually Speaker, as it’s often said, “the power of law depends on the lawmaker”. His presence at the Red Chamber in 2015 would make him a replica of Late Senator Idris Ibrahim Kuta who, after serving as Deputy Speaker of House of Representatives from 1979 to 1983, moved to the Senate and ended up being a household name in the chamber until his death recently. Kuta was regarded as the encyclopaedia of legislatives rule by many of his colleagues.
Tambuwal has promoted and contributed to educational development, job creation, agricultural development and is involved in providing health care assistance to his people. It will be cakewalk if he decides to re-contest for his seat back to the green chamber in 2015. His unanticipated and impromptu trips to his constituency, making frequent stops at small villages to meet the people and ask what their thoughts were about the government and the areas they need more attention, showed that he has not lost touch with his constituency. Going by his antecedents, the House of Representatives will not hesitate to re-elect him as its Speaker as the Senators in 2011 did in the case of Senator David Mark as its President.
It has never been said, even in whispers, that Tambuwal arrogated power and protocols to his office, or had an imperial disposition before his colleagues and aides. At home, office or gatherings, wherever you meet him, you glimpse in him a leader that is at ease, accessible and listening. It’s one of the many reasons the Green Chamber has enjoyed focused, purposeful, stable, unified and transparent sessions under his leadership.
The event of September 27, 2014, when he was turbaned Mutawallen Sokoto where his people rolled out drums to celebrate him irrespective of party affiliations was further indication that the people of Sokoto may have made up their mind and have anointed him as their next governor. So there are options; which one he chooses is up in the air and up to him to decide. Now that the 2015 general elections are around the corner and with his recent decamping from PDP to APC, his next political line of action may be one of the most awaited in Nigeria today, as his case has become something of interest to analysts, political watchers, media, Nigerians, ruling party and the opposition.
Yahaya wrote from Muye, Niger state
