Whither Tambuwal
Rt. Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal is one politician who in the political annals of Nigeria will be remembered for smoothly rising from grass to grace. From a mere inconsequential legislative aide in 1999, the ever smiling lawyer turned politician moved on to become a Member of the House of Representatives in 2003. And as providence […]
Rt. Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal is one politician who in the political annals of Nigeria will be remembered for smoothly rising from grass to grace. From a mere inconsequential legislative aide in 1999, the ever smiling lawyer turned politician moved on to become a Member of the House of Representatives in 2003. And as providence would have it, against the will of the powers that be then, Tambuwal took over the speakership of the House of Representatives in 2011. Yet as if to prove the effectiveness of his political magic wand, the senior legislator moved on to become the governor of Sokoto state in 2015.
It is important to note here that while he was rising to grace, Tambuwal has traveled from the defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Party (APC) before defecting, last week, back to the PDP. All through, he has been a popular politician who enjoyed goodwill from many Nigerians. So as he pitches camp with the PDP, will it still be the same? While time is to answer this question, it may be a good thing for us to look at the circumstances that characterized his defection and the reaction that followed the defection in Sokoto and relate them with the national political mood.
Many an observer of political development in this country may find it difficult to understand why Tambuwal left the APC. This was because unlike the Kwankwasos and the Sarakis, he neither had qualms with the national or state leaderships of the party nor has he any squabbles with the presidency. According to him meanwhile, he left the party because Sokoto state has neither got any big federal projects nor lucrative appointments. While according to democratic tenets the governor is entitled to his opinion, this reason is hardly acceptable as one of the excuses to defect from a party in which one has become a governor.
After all, this is a reconcilable problem. It may just be that he wanted to go to the PDP because he saw a brighter political future for himself there. It can be recalled that the former legislator has been nursing a presidential ambition. Maybe he has seen some hope that the PDP will give him its presidential flag to fly in 2019. Whatever the reasons for the defection were, it is now fait accompli that Tambuwal is in the PDP. But it seems Sokoto, being a stronghold of President Buhari, didn’t find the whole thing funny.
Within the very week the governor defected from APC to PDP, the leader of the APC in Sokoto state, Senator Aliyu Magatakarda Wammako by way of show of strength organized a rally, which by and large showed that even if Tambuwal has any more political relevance at the grassroots, it is nothing to write home about. The signals received from the political rally indicated that by the single act of defecting to the PDP, Tambuwal has tumbled.
Mukhtar Jarmajo, Abuja.