Tambuwal: Court Stops House from Reconvening Till Friday

04 Nov 2014

Hon. Aminu Tambuwal

•   Police aides to remain withdrawn as SSS strips speaker of security detail
•   APC legislators threaten to impeach Jonathan, meet with party leadership
•   PDP dangles Imo guber ticket to compel Ihedioha to oust speaker

Chuks Okocha, Tobi Soniyi, Muhammad Bello and Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja

The embattled Speaker of the House of Representative Hon. Aminu Tambuwal got a brief respite on Monday when a Federal High Court in Abuja issued an order directing the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Adamu Mu’azu and others not to reconvene the House, at least, until Friday, November 7 2014, when they have been directed to appear before the court to show cause why the reliefs being sought by the speaker and his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), should not be granted.

Justice Ahmed Mohammed of the Federal High Court specifically directed that the status quo be maintained in the matter, pending November 7 when the defendants are expected to appear before the court to show cause why the reliefs being sought by the speaker should not be granted.

The court noted that the order was to preserve the subject matter of the suit, which bordered on the speaker's position following his defection to the APC.

Justice Mohammed made the order following a motion ex parte argued by Tambuwal’s lawyer, Mr. Sunday Ameh (SAN).

Tambuwal urged the court to protect the subject matter of the suit which they filed last Friday challenging the plot by the PDP to remove him as the speaker of the House and declare his seat vacant.

His lawyer told the court that granting the order would help preserve the subject matter of their suit which is the position of Tambuwal as the Speaker of the House of Representatives and his membership of the House as well as his security aides.

He further told the court that the PDP had summoned its members at the House alongside the Deputy Speaker, Hon. Emeka Ihedioha, for the purpose of reconvening the House and discussing the removal of Tambuwal as speaker and member of the lower legislature.

He also pointed out that Order 5 Rules 18(1)(2) and (3) of the House Standing Rules empowers the speaker to reconvene the House by directing the clerk of the House to notify members and that it is unlawful, unconstitutional, null and void for the PDP to move to reconvene the House outside the speaker.

The court, after ordering that the House should not be reconvened, adjourned till Friday when the defendants are expected to show cause why all the reliefs being sought by Tambuwal and APC should not be granted.

Earlier yesterday, Tambuwal had filed another suit praying the court for an interim injunction to restrain the PDP and House of Representatives from discussing his removal from office as speaker pending the hearing and determination of his motion for interlocutory injunction. He filed the suit alongside the APC.

In the suit, Tambuwal listed PDP, Mu’azu, Ihedioha, the House of Representatives, IG, INEC and AGF as the first to seventh defendants.

He also sought an order of interim injunction to stop INEC from accepting any nomination of candidates or conducting a bye-election for the purpose of replacing him pending the hearing and determination of his motion for interlocutory injunction.

He also asked for an order of interim injunction restraining the defendants from taking any step to interfere with his rights and privileges as speaker and member of the House.

Other reliefs sought by the speaker were: An interim order of mandatory injunction directing the IG and the AGF to restore to him his security detail and all other rights, benefits and privileges entitled to him as speaker and member of the House.

An order of interim injunction restraining the defendants from taking any step to remove him from office as speaker and member of the House or taking steps to diminish his rights and privileges as speaker and member of the House.

In an affidavit of urgency attached to the application, Tambuwal said the defendants planned to remove him as speaker despite the fact that his originating summons was pending before the court.

He also said the PDP and its chairman had threatened to ensure that his seat as a member is declared vacant to allow INEC to organise a bye-election to fill the seat.

He further averred that he had been receiving threats from the defendants that they would cause the House to remove him from office as speaker and member of the House because of his membership of APC.

SSS Withdraws Security Detail

But as the speaker prayed the court to compel the IG to restore his police escorts who shall remain withdrawn until the court determines otherwise, the Department of State Security (DSS) compounded his woes on Monday by withdrawing its security personnel assigned to him.

It was learnt that the decision was based on the fact that the executive no longer deems Tambuwal a member of the House and speaker of the House and therefore cannot continue to enjoy the privileges attached to the office.

APC Lawmakers Meet with Oyegun

However, as the executive and PDP continued to tighten the noose around the speaker, APC legislators met with the National Chairman of the party John Odigie Oyegun and other leaders of the party on Monday night in Abuja to strategise on measures to save Tambuwal’s job.

At the meeting, APC resolved to set up a strategy committee to deal with the ongoing leadership tussle in the House.
The party after a two-hour emergency consultative meeting with its lawmakers, decided to constitute a joint strategy committee made up its members of the National Working Committee (NWC) and the APC House caucus.

Lawmakers used the opportunity of the meeting with the national leadership to advocate for automatic tickets for the 2015 election.

Speaking to journalists shortly after the meeting, the National Publicity Secretary of APC Alhaji Lai Mohammed said the meeting was called to deliberate on the travails of Tambuwal and especially the rough tackles that the PDP-led federal government was giving him.

“We met to deliberate on the issue of the speaker Rt. Hon. Aminu Tambuwal especially the rough tackles that the PDP-led federal government is meting out. But the ground had been softened before the meeting by the ruling of Justice Mohammed who asked that status quo be maintained and that the House cannot reconvene until November 7 when the parties are before him.

“What we did after was to take briefings from all the members and the party in respect of our coming convention and primaries. That is the sum total of our discussions,” he explained.

He said the decision of the court to maintain status quo was a welcome one, adding that it actually followed the rule of law.

“It means that the attempt to illegally reconvene at least cannot materialise and everybody will have to maintain status quo until November 7,” he said.

On his part, Tambuwal said he expected nothing less from the judiciary.

“Well, I expected nothing less from the Nigerian judiciary that has over time proven to be judicious. I think I don’t have to comment on that. Let me avoid that. But I have this to say that this is not about me. It is about the institution of the National Assembly.

“It is about our hard earned democracy and I commend the lovers of democracy of this country and beyond for their support and for the sustenance of our democracy,” he said.

Speaking before the meeting commenced, Oyegun said the party had been vindicated by the decision of the court to grant a restraining order against any move to reconvene the House before Friday.

Oyegun also expressed happiness over the resounding solidarity already enjoyed by Tambuwal within the APC family.
He said what the party had been warning about attempts to reconvene the House.

Speaking to Tambuwal, he said: “I want to thank you for answering the call to this emergency consultative meeting. This is first meeting at the national level that I am having the pleasure of hosting with you as a member of the APC and I want to say that I am very pleasantly surprised at the animated reception that you have received even from your own colleagues.

“It is a the measure of the man when your own colleagues regard you as first among equals.

“I have had cause to say that you are an exceptional bridge-builder because within days of being a member of the House, you were able to construct a coalition that made you one of the most stable and popular speakers this nation has ever had.

“As if that was not enough, the very arrogant, naked and childish impunity of the federal government is today making you one of the most popular men nationwide. The APC has had an infusion of adrenaline and your coming into the APC.

“You were publicly presented for the first time at one of the most successful conventions that any party could hold and a few days later, the PDP was having one of the most disastrous ward congresses.

“You can see clearly that this nation is on the path of salvation and the APC is clearly the ambit for that salvation for the survival and rescue of this nation.

“I want to thank you once again for giving us the opportunity to make the distinction between the APC and the others.”
Oyegun said the coming into the party by Tambuwal occurred at a time when the contrast between APC and PDP was becoming very clear.

Jonathan Threatened with Impeachment

Despite the brief interregnum granted to Tambuwal by the court, that did not stop the APC legislators from tabling other measures to stop the presidency and PDP in their tracks, chief of which was the threat by APC members to impeach President Goodluck Jonathan.

The legislators of the main opposition party had decided to catalogue the offences committed by the president that could lead to his impeachment, even though they lack the requisite two-thirds to get an impeachment motion passed.

The opposition politicians, it was gathered, were emboldened to contemplate the impeachment plot against the president because some of their colleagues in the PDP had been snitching on the scheming by the ruling party to remove the speaker.

The APC legislators, who filed a case at a Federal High Court seeking to bar any attempt at convening the House before its December 3 date of resumption, said the legislature is not subservient to the president.

Hon. Abdulmumini Jibrin (APC, Kano) told journalists after a press briefing by the APC caucus that “we need to be careful not to overheat the polity. And what I am referring to is this issue of impeachment being bandied around.

“We don't want a situation where the hunter will become the hunted. Already, we the APC members of the House, we are fully prepared. We are waiting for a situation like this. And we have the capacity to deal with any situation in the House”.

He added: “If you go and put some few members somewhere illegally to impeach the speaker, you’ve laid a precedent in the National Assembly. And what that means is that a few members can also seat anywhere to impeach even a higher officer in the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“We all need to be careful by allowing the sleeping dog to lie. Nigerians are watching. All the breach of the constitution that is going on, we are noting. All the impeachable offences that have been committed by a lot of public officers, we’ve taken records of it.

“In the next few days, we are going to watch and see how events unfold. And whatever happens, we will respond accordingly.”

Asked when they will proceed with their threat, Jibrin, who is also the House Chairman, Committee on Finance, responded: “When we get to the bridge of using such impeachable offences, we will cross it. We are going to reconvene on the 3rd of December. It is written in all our articles. All the offences, we are putting everything together, and by the time we reconvene, the fireworks will start.”

Earlier, the House Minority Leader, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila (APC, Lagos), stated that nobody could remove the speaker or brow beat the House into reconvening before the date that it had unanimously set for itself.

“The House cannot be reconvened without the speaker’s consent... Now the issues are in court. Under our rules, they cannot be a subject for debate. We ask the presidency and the PDP to leave the House well alone," Gbajabiamila said.

Continuing, he said: “Our House rules provide for how and when an adjourned House can be reconvened. The president cannot do it, a political party cannot do it, the deputy speaker lacks the powers and indeed it is beyond the signatures of 120,150, 250 or 350 members. That power resides solely and exclusively with Mr. Speaker.

“We had hoped that the PDP and the executive would at least this one time be decorous in its conduct and respect the rule of law and the legislature but we were wrong. We would like to use this opportunity to appeal to our colleagues in the PDP not to embark on a futile exercise but to put the country first and self second and do only that which is right as is our prayer every morning before sittings.”

He condemned the action of the IG for removing the speaker’s security aides, asking: “Where was the police when the speaker of the Ondo State assembly just recently defected from the Labour Party to the PDP?”

Citing Section 42 of the constitution, which provides that “a citizen of Nigeria of a particular community, ethnic group, religion or political opinion shall not by reason only that he is such a person be subjected either expressly by or in the practical application of any law in force in Nigeria or any executive or administrative action of the government to disabilities or restrictions to which other citizens of other communities ethnic groups...or other political opinions are not made subject”, Gbajabiamila asked: “What makes the Speaker of the Ondo assembly different from Hon. Tambuwal? Is it his political opinion?”

Ihedioha under Pressure

The impeachment threat by the APC legislators notwithstanding, it was gathered that the national leadership of the PDP has used the Imo governorship ticket as a bait to compel Ihedioha to move against Tambuwal.

However, Ihedioha has found himself between the devil and the deep blue sea, as any attempt to move against the speaker could backfire on him, as the APC legislators with the support of some PDP members, have sworn to impeach the deputy speaker who they say does not enjoy the same popularity as
Tambuwal among his colleagues.

However, the PDP is hoping that Ihedioha might be emboldened by the promise of the Imo governorship ticket and do its bidding by persuading his colleagues to remove Tambuwal.

A source said: “The deputy speaker wants to be the PDP governorship candidate in Imo State. This is the golden opportunity to earn it. He went against the party’s zoning arrangement in 2011. This is the chance for him to prove that he can be trusted.”