There is calm at the House of Representatives after the dust raised by the acrimonious election of its presiding officers on June 9 and another 49-day battle to pick other principal officers of the majority All Progressives Congress seems to be settling. It is difficult to say if peace is finally here.
The speakership election had several strands to it – a majority party being unable to put a preferred candidate, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila, on the seat because some APC legislators, supposedly arguing on the side of independence of the legislature, worked with minority parties to produce the eventual winner – Mr. Yakubu Dogara. The main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party, played a key role in the outcome of the poll. There was the question of the geographical spread of the principal offices, federal character and the suspicion over whether the party, indeed, decided on any candidate to be speaker, among other issues.
However, observers have singled out the role of the Governor of Sokoto State, Mr. Aminu Tambuwal, in the election for deeper analysis and how it is altering or has altered the relationship between him and Gbajabiamila.
Tambuwal, who is the immediate past speaker of the House, was known to have vigorously campaigned for Dogara and reportedly encouraged all members close to him to cast their votes for the lawyer and three-time representative from Bogoro/Dass/Tafawa Balewa federal constituency of Bauchi State. The former governor’s active involvement in the electioneering allegedly played a part in splitting the ranks of the largely pro-Gbajabiamila North-West APC caucus to Dogara’s advantage.
Tambuwal has not hidden the fact that he, indeed, backed Dogara. His reason? He believes Dogara is a better leader than Gbajabiamila, his friend!
Tambuwal shows his hand
The former speaker had opened up on Sunday, August 9, when he received a delegation from Dogara’s constituency on a “thank you visit,” for supporting one of their own to become the speaker of the 8th Assembly.
He admitted working against Gbajabiamila, his former ally, because he saw in Dogara a man with better leadership qualities.
Tambuwal told his appreciative visitors, “Eight out of 10 members of the Body of Principal Officers in the last Assembly supported Dogara’s aspiration. Only Gbajabiamila and Datti Ahmad supported Femi (Gbajabiamila).
“I have strong affinity with Femi (Gbajabiamila). He was closer to me than Dogara. But when talking about leadership and collective decisions, sentiments have to be put aside. I am not here to tell you that my support made Dogara the speaker, no.
“Two things made Dogara to become the speaker; one is God and two, Dogara’s competence. The acknowledgement of Dogara’s competence did not start with me. It started from the time of Patricia Etteh and Dimeji Bankole when they entrusted him with a sensitive position of the Chairman of House Services Committee.
“The committee is one of the most sensitive in the legislature. Apart from taking care of the welfare of members, the committee oversees all procurement processes. As the speaker, I only did what my predecessors did by giving Dogara this sensitive position.
“No person, as far as I know, has ever served as the Chairman of the House Services Committee in two dispensations. Dogara broke that jinx. All through my tenure, I brought Dogara close to me because I found in him a person who is competent, accommodating and with the capacity to lead.
“Anyone doubting Dogara’s ability to lead should ask members of the 7th Assembly how he handled their matter. So, we supported Dogara not for any reason but because he was competent to deliver on any task given to him.”
Gbajabiamila knew all along the role of Tambuwal in the election and sounded not surprised in his swift reaction to the governor’s public statement.
Gbajabiamila, who is now the House Majority Leader, replied, “Alhaji Tambuwal has finally spoken. I won’t take issue with him as I have moved on.
“As I keep saying, God’s will has been done not Tambuwal’s will. There is a speaker in place and I intend to continue to work with him to the best of my ability in moving our country forward.
“For Tambuwal, I can only wish him all the best in his future undertakings.”
Gbajabiamila opens up
Gbajabiamila admitted more in an earlier interview with this reporter how an incalculable damage had been done to his friendship with the former speaker.
Reporter: What happened that the same Tambuwal you supported on merit against the South-West did not reciprocate by recognising the same quality in you?
Gbajabiamila: Do you want me to be very honest with it? No. I don’t think so (that he recognised my qualities) and I don’t think he thinks so. I don’t want to go into all that again because it is now in the past.
Reporter: In summary, you agree with people who say the relationship between the two of you will never be cordial again, having stabbed you in the back?
Gbajabiamila: Well, let us see how that goes. I am not clairvoyant; I don’t see into the future but a lot of damage has been done. But, I will also say God’s will has been done. I will leave things the way they are…
In the beginning
Flash back to 2011. Observers easily recall that the PDP was in control of the majority at the House with around 208, out 360 members. The situation was similar to this year’s when the APC controlled 213 out of 360 lawmakers in the days to the election. As the leading party then, the PDP had zoned the speakership of the 7th Assembly to the South-West and ‘anointed’ Mulikat Adeola-Akande as the candidate for the number four seat.
Tambuwal, though a PDP member, rebelled against the party by opting to contest the election against Adeola-Akande. With the backing of Gbajabiamila, Tambuwal was able to amass the votes of the about 70 members of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria and other opposition parties, breaking the ranks of the PDP and defeating Adeola-Akande in the process.
Gbajabiamila admitted that he considered the two candidates and came to the conclusion that putting sentiments aside, Tambuwal was a better leader, not minding the fact that Adeola-Akande is from the South-West, his zone.
Gbajabiamila further revealed how he personally took Tambuwal to the National Leader of the APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, to make the necessary introductions and defend why it must be Tambuwal and not his ‘sister,’ Adeola-Akande.
More details on what he claimed transpired, “Back in 2011, we were just coming out of the (Dimeji) Bankole era. That period was probably the worst period in terms of where we were as the institution of the House of Representatives. We were at our lowest ebb at the time and we were probably the least liked set of people in Nigeria at that time.
“Having been down, two candidates emerged – Aminu Tambuwal and Mulikat. I know them both. I had nothing against Mulikat. But, I felt that from where we were coming as a House at that time, there was a place we needed to get to and I felt Tambuwal would be a lot better candidate to get us out of that situation. That tells a lot about me; that I am a very detribalised person.
“Yes, Mulikat is from the South-West like me but the more important consideration was capacity. And I felt and we believed that Tambuwal was far ahead in terms of capacity to take the House out of the situation it was.
“So, my position was not based on, oh no, the PDP has done this, so it must be contrary. It was not politics at all; it was simply merit-based. I say boldly that I started the Tambuwal project for the reasons I just gave and pushed it to the point where he became the speaker. As a matter of fact, the party and the South-West had already endorsed Mulikat.
“A lot of people even tried to blame Tinubu, that he did this or that. No, the South-West endorsed her. Tinubu did not know Tambuwal before then; I said no, he was the right person. I argued then that even if he was pursuing a South-West agenda, Tambuwal was a better candidate for the House than a South-West agenda. And I was proved right at the end of the day.”
Analysts say it was no surprise that Gbajabiamila naturally expected Tambuwal to reciprocate the gesture when he took the plunge to contest the speakership poll, but got a shocker instead!
Ironically, Tambuwal too was rationalising like his former friend did in 2011; that he needed to protect the institution of the House. In doing so, he reasoned that Dogara would do a better job than Gbajabiamila, not minding their friendsip. Meanwhile, back in 2011, Dogara, who was a PDP member to the core, did all within his powers to stop Tambuwal’s emergence by mobilising support for Adeola-Akande. This is part of the bitter lessons of politics, some observers would argue.
Insiders say disagreement set in between Tambuwal and Gbajabiamila early in the run up to the election on June 9. When Tambuwal realised that his good friend and Dogara had declared interest in the race, he reportedly called the two together to discuss how they could work together as “one political family.”
But, Gbajabiamila was said to have argued that it was a party affair to be decided by the APC with the reasoning that all that he needed was a directive by the party and its 213 members would fall in line to elect him.
On the other hand, Dogara who ran a campaign that carried all members along, irrespective of party decisions, was said to have insisted on maintaining the already set tradition of allowing the members to pick their presiding officers without external influence.
At a point, when it became apparent that Gbajabiamila was coasting to victory, Tambuwal had to run to him with Dogara in toe, to plead that the two should run on a joint ticket.
The proposal was that Gbajabiamila should be the speaker while Dogara would be his deputy.
However, Gbajabiamila, who had given his word to Mr. Mohammed Monguno, another strong contender at the time, to be his deputy, was said to have bluntly turned down any possibility of working with Dogara. The meeting ended quickly.
That meeting, said to be the last straw that broke the camel’s back, left Tambuwal with the only option of fighting to the very last minute for Dogara’s victory.
The Sokoto governor and Gbajabiamila have since gone their separate ways, with wounds that would probably take years to heal.
Gbajabiamila even made a reference to Tambuwal’s future endeavours in his latest reaction.
“For Tambuwal, I can only wish him all the best in his future undertakings,” Gbajabiamila had stated.
Wait a minute, was he referring to rumours that the former speaker might seek to contest the presidential election in 2019? Would that be an opportunity for Gbajabiamila to take his pound of flesh by using the APC’s structure to work against him? And where would Gbajabiamila be at the time?
Questions for the former friends turned foes.
Punch
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