Let me make it clear from the on-set, am not a fan of
PDP's brand of politics; neither would I fall over, over
APC. As far as I am concerned, there is no difference
between the two parties. APC in fact may be a greater
monster if it were privileged to put one of its members in
Aso Rock. One is therefore compelled to look at the
activities of the political characters in the two parties.
Much as I agree that withdrawing House Speaker Aminu
Tambuwwal's security detail by the Inspector General of
Police is politically motivated, I find Tambuwwal's
defection from PDP to APC a violent assault on the 1999
constitution. Of course some people would argue that it is
not new since examples abound. My own opinion however
is that it has never happened with a leader of the highest
law-making organ in the country.
For a leader of the highest legislative organ in the land to
brazenly and wantonly disparage the constitution speaks
volumes for the character of our political actors. And for a
party that claims to have a mission to enthrone an
enduring political order where the rule of law prevails, to
go applauding the Speaker's action just because it
benefits it, speaks a lot about the motive of the party.
Now, let us look at the issues. Section 68. (1) of the 1999
Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria states inter
alia"A member of the Senate or of the House of
Representatives shall vacate his seat in the House of
which he is a member if -
(a) he becomes a member of another legislative house.
(b) any other circumstances arise that, if he were not a
member of the Senate or the House of Representatives,
would cause him to be disqualified for election as a
member;
(c) he ceases to be a citizen of Nigeria;
(d) he becomes President, Vice-President, Governor,
Deputy Governor or a Minister of the Government of the
Federation or a Commissioner of the Government of a State
or a Special Adviser.
(e) save as otherwise prescribed by this Constitution, he
becomes a member of a commission or other body
established by this Constitution or by any other law.
(f) without just cause he is absent from meetings of the
House of which he is a member for a period amounting in
the aggregate to more than one-third of the total number
of days during which the House meets in any one year;
(g) being a person whose election to the House was
sponsored by a political party, he becomes a member of
another political party before the expiration of the period
for which that House was elected;
Provided that his membership of the latter political party
is not as a result of a division in the political party of
which he was previously a member or of a merger of two
or more political parties or factions by one of which he
was previously sponsored.
Given the above provisions, perhaps the one applicable to
Tambuwwal and for which he ought to quit his seat as
both speaker and member of the House is section 68 (1)g.
Looking at the proviso in section 68(1)g, can one say that
there is a division in PDP, a party under which Tambuwwal
was elected member of the House of Representatives? The
answer is of course no! Has PDP merged with another
party? No! Is PDP factionalized? Again, the answer is no!
On what possible constitutional basis, then, should
Tambuwwal remain as member and Speaker of the House
of Representatives? I know it is popular to cite previous
examples of a legislator defecting without quitting his
seat. However, I opine that Tambuwwal's case is different
given his position in the National Assembly.
For God's sake Tambuwwal is the Speaker of the House of
Reps. As the Speaker he ought to show good example of
what constitutional rule ought to be regardless of
whatever previous occurrences. If he had quit his seat as
Member and Speaker of the House, a new benchmark, or
precedence, would have been set in our Legislature - just
as Chris Ngige did in the Executive when he vacated office
as Governor of Anambra State when the court declared
Peter Obi legitimately elected as governor instead of he
Ngige.
Be that as it may, one is not unmindful of PDP's
insincerity in the whole defection drama. Why is it that the
heavens do not fall when an elected public official defects
from opposition party to PDP, even where the above
constitutional provisions do not apply? Why does it
become instant drama when reverse is the case, when an
elected public official defects from PDP to opposition
party?
Governor Mimiko of of Ondo State defected from Labour
Party to PDP in similar circumstances as did Tambuwwal
and the heavens did not fall. PDP gladly welcomed Mimiko
with open arms and never touched his security detail. Why
is the same PDP now crying wolf in the case of
Tambuwwal and is quick to prevail on the IGP to withdraw
his security detail? Is the IGP now under the control of the
PDP or the Federal Government?
Tambuwwal is still the Speaker of Nigeria's House of
Representatives. So instead of the PDP to instigate the
withdrawal of his police security detail in an arm-twisting
game, what it should have done is to go to court to
enforce the provisions of Section 68 (1) of the 1999
constitution. That the Presidency is a part of this
chicanery is unfortunate but not surprising.

Frank Ofili

Op, u refused to open up ur mind while writing this, so u ended up twisting facts.
Have u checked to see if the same constitution state that a speaker of the house must come from the party with majority?
Who told u there is no division in pdp and that tambuwal is not part of that faction? If there is no division in pdp at d national level(as u think), what about sokoto, Tambuwal's home state? Without division in sokoto, why did we have the reconcilliatory committee chaired by Tony Anenih visiting the state last week without inviting Tambuwal to their meeting?
Op, u need help.

Now, let us look at the issues. Section 68. (1) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria states inter alia"
A member of the Senate or of the House of Representatives shall vacate his seat in the House of which he is a member if -
(a) he becomes a member of another legislative house.
(b) any other circumstances arise that, if he were not a
member of the Senate or the House of Representatives,
would cause him to be disqualified for election as a
member;
(c) he ceases to be a citizen of Nigeria;
(d) he becomes President, Vice-President, Governor, Deputy Governor or a Minister of the Government of the Federation or a Commissioner of the Government of a State or a Special Adviser.
(e) save as otherwise prescribed by this Constitution, he becomes a member of a commission or other body established by this Constitution or by any other law.
(f) without just cause he is absent from meetings of the House of which he is a member for a period amounting in the aggregate to more than one-third of the total number of days during which the House meets in any one year;
(g) being a person whose election to the House was sponsored by a political party, he becomes a member of another political party before the expiration of the period for which that House was elected; Provided that his membership of the latter political party is not as a result of a division in the political party of which he was previously a member or of a merger of two or more political parties or factions by one of which he
was previously sponsored.

Tambuwal violated the above highlighted subsection and should vacate the seat of speaker HOR.

Neither FG nor PDP will go to court. But one thing is for sure that Tambuwal will never preside in the house where Jonathan will present 2015 budget.

If Tambuwal and his deluded co-travellers think they own Nigeria more than the majority of us then we shall tell them that 2014 is not 1966.

worthytalk:
Neither FG nor PDP will go to court. But one thing is for sure that Tambuwal will never preside in the house where Jonathan will present 2015 budget.

If Tambuwal and his deluded co-travellers think they own Nigeria more than the majority of us then we shall tell them that 2014 is not 1966.

mumu talk

jamace:
Now, let us look at the issues. Section 68. (1) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria states inter alia"
.
.
.
(f) without just cause he is absent from meetings of the House of which he is a member for a period amounting in the aggregate to more than one-third of the total number of days during which the House meets in any one year;
(g) being a person whose election to the House was sponsored by a political party, he becomes a member of another political party before the expiration of the period for which that House was elected; Provided that his membership of the latter political party is not as a result of a division in the political party of which he was previously a member or of a merger of two or more political parties or factions by one of which he
was previously sponsored.

Tambuwal violated the above highlighted subsection and should vacate the seat of speaker HOR.

68. (1) A member of the Senate or of the House of Representatives shall vacate his seat in the House of which he is a member if -

(a) he becomes a member of another legislative house.

(b) any other circumstances arise that, if he were not a member of the Senate or the House of Representatives, would cause him to be disqualified for election as a member;

(c) he ceases to be a citizen of Nigeria;

(d) he becomes President, Vice-President, Governor, Deputy Governor or a Minister of the Government of the Federation or a Commissioner of the Government of a State or a Special Adviser.

(e) save as otherwise prescribed by this Constitution, he becomes a member of a commission or other body established by this Constitution or by any other law.

(f) without just cause he is absent from meetings of the House of which he is a member for a period amounting in the aggregate to more than one-third of the total number of days during which the House meets in any one year;

(g) being a person whose election to the House was sponsored by a political party, he becomes a member of another political party before the expiration of the period for which that House was elected;

Provided that his membership of the latter political party is not as a result of a division in the political party of which he was previously a member or of a merger of two or more political parties or factions by one of which he was previously sponsored; or

(h) the President of the Senate or, as the case may be, the Speaker of the House of Representatives receives a certificate under the hand of the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission stating that the provisions of section 69 of this Constitution have been complied with in respect of the recall of that member.

(2) The President of the Senate or the Speaker of the House of Representatives, as the case may be, shall give effect to the provisions of subsection (1) of this section, so however that the President of the Senate or the Speaker of the House of Representatives or a member shall first present evidence satisfactory to the House concerned that any of the provisions of that subsection has become applicable in respect of that member.

(3) A member of the Senate or of the House of Representatives shall be deemed to be absent without just cause from a meeting of the House of which he is a member, unless the person presiding certifies in writing that he is satisfied that the absence of the member from the meeting was for a just cause.

Check Section 68(2):
The President of the Senate or the Speaker of the House of Representatives has the constitutional right to give effect to Section 68(1) with satisfactory evidence....

The constitution is very clear here., it us not for me and you nor GEJ-led federal government to decipher or establish the crystalization of 1(g) of that section of the Constitution but for the Judiciary to interpret. In a sane clime, the federal government would have gone to the courts to seek interpretation of the constitution instead of usurping the powers of the Judiciary as we have seen them wrongly done here.

Where is the principles of separation if powers?

Caseless:
Op, u refused to open up ur mind while writing this, so u ended up twisting facts.
Have u checked to see if the same constitution state that a speaker of the house must come from the party with majority?
Who told u there is no division in pdp and that tambuwal is not part of that faction? If there is no division in pdp at d national level(as u think), what about sokoto, Tambuwal's home state? Without division in sokoto, why did we have the reconcilliatory committee chaired by Tony Anenih visiting the state last week without inviting Tambuwal to their meeting?
Op, u need help.

My dear internal disagreement is different from division.

Ok imagine this
From your inference, it means if we have disagreement in our various
homes we have to abandon our parents and use that as
the basis for committing all sort of blunders, WHO ARE
THE HEADS OF THESE SO CALLED FACTIONS IF ANY AS
RECOGNISED BY LAW?? We should not argue out of
sentiments
The blunder by Tambuwal is quite unimaginable, it shows
that there in no constitution in Nigeria and THAT SPEAKS
VOLUMES .
It is not about PDP/APC, it z about the regard for our
constitution by the 4th man in govt.

One of few commentaries on Tambuwal's defection here on Nairaland that is in part objective. But the one issue these biased commentators and, as always, PDP's kindred rascals, are continually ignoring is if there is indeed a division in Sokoto chapter of the PDP. Clearly, Tambuwal & his aides must have found a loophole in the polity before making such a decision. Could it be that these commentators and others are oblivious of the happenings in Sokoto PDP or are they just being deliberately mischievous? They would do well to answer this question.