SPEAKERSHIP RACE: TINUBU TURNS BACK ON TAMBUWAL FOR BETRAYING GBAJABIAMILA

A month after the position of the Speaker of the House of Representatives was decided, the unofficial position of the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has drawn the battle line between himself and Tambuwal.

According to online news medium, The Will, Tinubu, who played host to Tambuwal at his Asokro residence in Abuja, a fortnight after the speakership election in which Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila lost to Hon Yakubu Dogara, told Tambuwal that “with what you did to Femi in the House, you have severed the umbilical cord joining you with the South-West.”

Tinubu, a source revealed, was in company of some Northern members of the APC when the ex Speaker came calling.

TAMBUWAL SAYS REPS HAVE EVIDENCE OF “MIND-BOGGLING” CORRUPTION BY NIGERIAN GOVT

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, said on Tuesday that Nigerians would be shocked if told about the mind-boggling corruption perpetrated by the current leadership in the country.
The Speaker, who stated this at the formal inauguration campaign of the APC presidential candidate in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, lamented that Nigeria does not deserve the leadership it has at this time.
He said it was one of the reasons he dumped the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, last October for the APC.
Mr. Tambuwal, who is the governorship candidate of the APC in Sokoto State in the February 28 election, said the mindboggling information on the rot in the country was obtained by the House during its oversight functions.

APC CONVENTION: TAMBUWAL URGES NIGERIANS TO VOTE OUT INCOMPETENT GOVERNMENT

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal, in his goodwill message at the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential primary, urged Nigerians to vote out the present administration which, he said, had lost parts of the country to insurgency under its watch.
On the Boko Haram insurgency which is taking over many areas in the northern part of the country, he assured that APC “can and shall arrest the situation almost immediately it comes into office.

POLICE DENY PLANS TO RESTORE TAMBUWAL'S SECURITY

THE authorities of the Nigerian Police Force has denied knowledge of any plans to restore hitherto withdrawn security details assigned to Speaker of the House of Representatives Aminu Tambuwal, now All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate in Sokoto State.
In a telephone chat with The Guardian yesterday, the Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO), Emmanuel Ojukwu, said he had no such information to that effect.
But some reports in the media had said that the Police leadership decided to restore the embattled Speaker's security details to save-face, as criticisms continued the sudden withdrawal of his security aides shortly after he defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), on whose platform he was elected into the House and ostensibly the position, to APC last month.
Source: Guardian

PDP DIDN’T MAKE ME SPEAKER, SAYS TAMBUWAL

House of Representatives Speaker, Hon Aminu Tambuwal, has dismissed demands by the presidency and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that he should vacate his office since he has defected from the party to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Tambuwal, in an interview with Voice of America (VOA), monitored in Kaduna yesterday, said the demand was anchored on the erroneous belief that the party was instrumental to his emergence as speaker.
He added that although he was a member of the party, he became the speaker despite the fact that he was not the party’s choice due to the support of opposition lawmakers and other Nigerians.

PRESIDENCY, PDP PLAN COURT AMBUSH TO OUST TAMBUWAL

Supporters to stop ex-parte order to declare seat vacant
Barely four days to the resumption of the House of Representatives, members have uncovered a plot to have a court declare vacant Speaker Aminu Tambuwal’s seat.
The court may grant an ex-parte order asking Tambuwal to leave office pending the determination of the substantive motion.
On the basis of the judicial ambush, the police will have “alibi” to prevent the Speaker from presiding over the House when it reconvenes on December 4.
A three-time member of the House, Isiaq Abiodun Akinlade(Yewa South/Ipokia Federal Constituency) is said to have filed an ex-parte application seeking to stop Tambuwal from presiding over the affairs of the lower chamber because of the Speaker’s defection to the All Progressives Congress(APC).

TAMBUWAL ASKS COURT TO JAIL IG OF POLICE, SULEIMAN ABBA, FOR CONTEMPT

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, has asked the Federal High Court, sitting in Abuja, to commit the Inspector General of Police, IGP, Suleiman Abba, to jail for disobeying an order made by the court.
The IGP had last week ordered police officers to take over the National Assembly complex to “prevent thugs from taking over the complex”.
In a suit filed by Mr. Tambuwal over his position as the speaker after he defected to the opposition All Progressives Congress, APC, Justice Ahmed Muhammed who is trying the case, ordered that all parties should maintain the status quo, implying that Mr. Tambuwal stays put on his seat as speaker till the court takes a decision on the matter.

TAMBUWAL, APC LEADERSHIP MEET OVER HOUSE CRISIS

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal, on Wednesday met with the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief John Oyegun at the party’s secretariat in Abuja to map out strategies to forestall efforts by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to move against the speaker.
At the height of the crisis in the House, following the defection of the speaker to the APC, the leadership of the opposition party had set up a joint committee made up of members of the National Working Committee (NWC) and the party caucus in the House.
The task before the committee was to interface with the speaker and lawmakers with a view to advising the party on appropriate counter-measures to respond to PDP’s threats.
Although the agenda of the meeting was not disclosed to journalists, a party source told THISDAY that the speaker came to update the party leadership with developments in the lower legislative chamber.

ARREST TAMBUWAL, SPARK FIRE –FG WARNED

■ No order to arrest Speaker – NSA 
■ I’m ready for arrest –Tambuwal
■ Jonathan’s impeachment move, diversionary – PDP caucus
Last Thursday’s altercation at the National Assembly which pitched the Nige¬ria Police against members of the House of Representa¬tives, and purportedly spinned – off into moves by security forces to arrest the speaker of the House of Representa¬tives, Hon Aminu Tambuwal, may have sparked off verbal fire among the various forces involved. The speaker’s party, the All Progressives Congress, (APC), the National Security Adviser, (NSA), the Nigeria Po¬lice Force, NPF, the Speaker, and the PDP caucus have all risen in defence or against the purported arrest plot.

APC GOVS MAY REJECT TAMBUWAL

Governors elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress may queue behind Gen. Muhammadu Buhari(retd.) as the preferred presidential candidate of the party for the 2015 election,SUNDAY PUNCH has learnt.
The governors are suspecting that those asking the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, to pick the presidential form are enemies of the party.
Two of the governors, who spoke with our correspondent on Friday and Saturday respectively, said they would work for Buhari.
One of them, who called our correspondent on Friday evening, said there was no way he and his colleagues would support Tambuwal.
He said he and his colleagues were not worried with Tambuwal’s picking of the party’s presidential form.

TAMBUWAL RECEIVES APC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION FORMS

........Says He Is Still Consulting
Speaker, House of Representatives, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal on Friday accepted the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential nomination and expression of interest forms which were collected on his behalf.
Tambuwal however stated that he would conclude consultations on his presidential bid “soonest” and get back to Nigerians on his final position.
On Thursday, some members of the House of Representatives and other political associates collected the presidential nomination and expression of interest forms on his behalf.
Lawmakers that converged at the Speaker’s residence to present the nomination form to him, included Hon. Zakari Mohammed (APC-Kwara), Hon. Emmanuel Jime (APC-Benue), Hon. Aliyu Gebi (APC-Bauchi), Hon. Rotimi Makinde (APC-Osun), Hon. Suleiman Yahaya Kwande (APC-Plateau).

NASS SECURITY NOW GUARDS TAMBUWAL

• VP’s security aides harass journalists
Since the withdrawal of security details attached to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal, by the Inspector General of Police, the National Assembly security personnel in the office of the Sergeant-at-Arm have been drafted to the resident of the Speaker.
The Inspector General of Police, Suleiman Abba, few days after the Speaker defected from PDP to APC withdrew all the security details attached to the Speaker.
Personnel of the Sergeant- at-Arm and the private security guards were seen all over the residence, taking charge of the security situation. Since the removal of the security details, the Speaker has been driving himself in and around the Federal Capital Territory with Sergeant-at-Arm office providing security for him.
Meanwhile security details attached to the vicepresident, Namadi Sambo, yesterday attacked some journalists in Abuja.

PRESIDENCY: APC REPS PUSH FOR TAMBUWAL

Some members of the All Progressives Congress in the House of Representatives have launched a powerful drive for the Speaker, Aminu Tambuwal, to emerge as the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress.
Investigations by The PUNCH on Thursday revealed that the members took it upon themselves to purchase the APC presidential nomination form for Tambuwal, who recently dumped the Peoples Democratic Party for the nation’s main opposition party.
Attempts by the APC to pick a presidential candidate by consensus had failed after talks between the stakeholders reportedly collapsed on Wednesday.
The contest was initially between a former Head of State, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd); a former Vice-President, Atiku Abubakar; Kano State Governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso, and Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha.
But, The PUNCH learnt that the “entry” of Tambuwal into the race had further compounded the situation in the APC.

TAMBUWAL TO GO FOR SOKOTO GOVERNOR

Daily Trust Report
Speaker of the House of Representatives Alhaji Aminu Waziri will not seek the opposition All Progressives Congress’ (APC) presidential ticket but will, instead, seek the party’s governorship ticket for Sokoto State, Daily Trust authoritatively learnt in Abuja yesterday.
The decision brings to an end a big suspense in Nigerian politics with some newspapers reporting yesterday that Tambuwal secretly picked up an APC presidential nomination form on Monday. Tambuwal did not pick up the form and would not seek it, Daily Trust learnt.
Daily Trust also learnt that Tambuwal’s decision was made after several rounds of high level meetings of APC’s Northern caucus. The party’s elders including its governors, national officials and presidential candidates had met in Kaduna on October 18 and in Abuja, last week.

TAMBUWAL JOINS PRESIDENTIAL RACE, APC INTRIGUES DEEPEN

• Complicates race for Buhari, Atiku others
There appears to be no end in sight to the intrigues heralding the presidential primary of the All Progressives Congress (APC) slated for December, as the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal, who recently joined the party, has jettisoned his governorship bid and picked up presidential nomination and expression of interest forms.

By this development, however, Tambuwal may have complicated the race for the likes of former military Head of State, Major-General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd), former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, Kano State Governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso, and the Publisher of Leadership Newspapers, Sam Nda-Isaiah.

Tambuwal, who on Monday picked up his forms, was believed to have been motivated by the growing clamour within the power blocs in the APC for a game changer who could be presented to the Nigerian people, signalling a departure from the veterans and early starters in the presidential race.

Before this development, the duo of Buhari and Atiku had remained the frontrunners in the presidential race, while Kwankwaso and Nda-Isaiah were deemed the dark horses.
But with Tambuwal throwing his hat into the ring, the niggling issue of who would end up with the presidential ticket of the APC may have changed significantly.

APC TICKET: RUMPUS IN TINUBU’S CAMP OVER TAMBUWAL

A deep crack has appeared within the Bola Ahmed Tinubu camp of the All Progressives Congress (APC) over alleged bid by Tinubu to support Speaker Aminu Waziri Tambuwal bid to emerge as the presidential flag bearer of the party.
Tinubu who controls the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) bloc within the party, is believed to have turned his back on General Muhammadu Buhari since the defection of Tambuwal to the APC.
The initial arrangement within the ACN bloc is that Buhari should be supported for the presidential ticket of the party due to the massive support he enjoys in the North while the ACN bloc should be allowed to produce the vice presidential candidate.
Our correspondents however learnt that since Tambuwal joined the APC, more of the party chieftains from the South West have expressed sentiments in favour of changing the calculation to support Tambuwal on grounds that re-presenting Buhari would not pose fresh challenges to the PDP.

PDP IN THE HANDS OF A CABAL – TAMBUWAL

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal, on Wednesday gave insights into why he dumped the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the All Progressive Congress (APC).
Speaking at the 6th anniversary celebration of Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State, Tambuwal said he left the PDP because the system had been hijacked by a cabal.
According to him, the system of governance at the centre was already malfunctioning.
“We have accepted to join the movement of progressives to change the system. The system today is malfunctioning and has failed in several ways.
“You have to change a system that is not working. We have a cabal that has hijacked the instrument of authority. We should vote them out in February. What do the people of the South South have to show for voting the President? Nothing.”

APC GOVS, SENATORS MOVE TO SAVE TAMBUWAL

IT emerged at the weekend that leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) have concluded arrangements to save the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Honourable Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, from being removed from office on account of his defection from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Sources in Abuja told the Nigerian Tribune that the leaders, at a meeting on the matter last week, resolved to raise a huge war chest to forestall any legal impediment to Tambuwal’s continued stay in office as Speaker.
A source close to the party said the leaders have made appropriate directives to APC governors and senators to come to the aid of Speaker Tambuwal as a plethora of cases already instituted were beyond what his office could cope with in his official capacity.
The source said: “A directive has been given that everyone, especially governors and senators must do what is within their powers to save the speaker. If there is the need, more suits should be instituted to ensure we keep him in office till June 2015.
So far, the instruction is to raise at least N25 million per state to the cause of the embattled speaker.

ADOKE, IGP INSIST TAMBUWAL ‘NO LONGER SPEAKER’

The Attorney General of Federation and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Adoke (SAN) and the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Suleiman Abba, on Friday argued that the Speaker of the House of Representatives, AminuTambuwal, has ceased to be a member of the House by virtue of his defection to another party and is no longer entitled to rights and privileges associated with that position.
The duo while justifying the withdrawal of Tambuwal’s security details, contended that having defected from the party that sponsored him, he has lost his membership of the House and “automatically ceased to be the Speaker.”

RESIGN NOW, TAMBUWAL TELLS JONATHAN

The embattled Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, on Wednesday, came down hard on President Goodluck Jonathan, asking him to resign from office for running “a system that does not have the interest of the country at heart”.
Addressing supporters of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Ilorin, Kwara State, during the formal declaration of Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed for a second term, the Speaker warned that should the president failed to do so, Nigerian voters should revolt against him at the February presidential poll.
The Speaker had, at the APC extra-ordinary convention last week, said the party would chase out the “cabal” running the country at the poll next year.
“I call on President Jonathan to resign from office because of all the mis-governance and the untold hardship Nigerians are presently passing through,” he said. If he fails to do that it is therefore incumbent on us as a people to turn out en-masse and vote out Goodluck Ebele Jonathan come 2015. That will bring peace, progress and development of Nigeria.’’
He continued, “I am sure that (Kwara) state will provide such leadership to the extent that we shall deliver this country to the government at the centre to APC,” he said in Ilorin on Wednesday.