Since the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC) penultimate Tuesday, the Nigerian political space has become literally asphyxiated. Political watchers saw the development coming… it was only a question time. The speaker’s body language portrayed him as a PDP man in flesh but an APC man in spirit long before now. The ruling party, on whose platform he rose to become the nation’s No. 4 citizen, waited exasperatingly for his day of defection. And when it finally came, they struck… beginning with the withdrawal of his security details.
The Inspector General of Police, Mr. Suleiman Abba, ostensibly on the orders of the Presidency caused the speaker’s security details to vanish overnight. Defending the action, the spokesperson of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), Emmanuel Ojukwu, said: “In view of the recent defection by the Right Honourable Aminu Waziri Tambuwal (CFR), the Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, from the People Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressive Congress (APC), and having regard to the clear provision of section 68(1)(g) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended, the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) has redeployed its personnel attached to his office.”
Spontaneous reactions followed the action taken by the police authorities. The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) swiftly condemned the action, insisting that Tambuwal was not elected into the office by one political party, but by a majority of members of the House of Representatives.The NBA in a statement signed by its national president, Augustine Alegeh, said the NPF was not a court of law and, therefore, lacked the competence to determine whether or not the speaker violated the provisions of the 1999 Constitution.
The statement reads: “The Nigeria Bar Association out rightly condemns this action as it is a breach of the constitutional duty of the police to provide police escort and security details to the Honourable Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The Rt. Honourable AminuTambuwal still remains the Speaker of the House of Representatives and he is entitled to the full paraphernalia of his office, including all his police escort and security details.
“We must state that the mere fact that the Rt. Hon. Tambuwal defected from one party to another whilst being the Speaker of the House of Representatives, does not automatically strip him of his position as speaker of the House of Representatives and the attendant protection by the police. Our democracy must remain firmly rooted in the respect for due process and the rule of law.”
The ever vociferous Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) also aligned with the NBA. The NLC while demanding immediate restoration of the speaker’s security in a statement signed by its secretary general, Dr. Peter Ozo-Eson, noted that it was part of the plan by politicians to heat up the polity. To buttress its position, the NLC queried the rationale for the treatment meted out to the speaker and wondered why the police did not withdraw the security details of Ondo state Governor, Olusegun Mimiko, and former Borno state governor, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, for decamping from the Labour Party and the APC, respectively, to the PDP. The special treatment given to the twosome by the police smacks of double standards, even as the leadership of the ruling party appears determined to defy the House to reconvene with the purpose of impeaching the speaker.
Interestingly, the ruling by Justice Ahmed Ramat Muhammed of the Federal High Court, Abuja, asking all parties to maintain the status quo until tomorrow, November 7, has put paid to the political shenanigan. The APC’s motion on notice is to stop PDP from reconvening the House until December 3, 2014. While, cautioning the actors in the unfolding drama not to carry their parochial quest for power too far because the polity is already overheated, we urge both parties to respect rule of law.
