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SPEAKER of the House of Representatives, Aminu Waziri Tambuwwal, has called the bluff of his adversaries in government, saying only God can remove him as speaker.
This is coming as a two-time former member of the House, Honourable Duro Faseyi, admonished him to resign his position and re-contest as speaker in the interest of the House
and the polity.
Tambuwal, who spoke in Kaduna on Saturday during the North-West Zonal Executive Committee meeting of the All Progressives Congress (APC), said; “as for my fate in the National Assembly and as speaker of the House of Representatives, it is in the hands of God and members of the House.”
Maintaining that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) could not remove him as speaker, Tambuwal said the majority of the House members were behind him and that people could go and verify his claim.
Nigerians, he said, should disregard wrong information being circulated by those he called agents of distraction.
He said his counsel, Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, had explained the situation when he said the status quo referred to the period before his security details were withdrawn and that any attempt to alter the court’s proclamation would amount to contempt.
“Yes, I am here for the first time to attend the zonal meeting of the North-West of APC, my political party. As for my fate in the National Assembly and as speaker of House of Representatives, it is in the hands of God and members of the House,” Tambuwwal said.
He, however, declined comment over his rumoured Sokoto State governorship aspiration.
In a related development, former Head of State, General Muhammadu Buhari, described the defection of Tambuwwal to the APC as “a sign of good things to come,” adding that with free and fair election, landslide victory would be the APC’s portion in the 2015 elections.
Speaking with journalists, after the meeting, Buhari; Kano State deputy governor, Alhaji Abdullahi Ganduje; and the APC National-Vice Chairman (North-West), Mr Inuwa Abdulkadir, all said the PDP would be a bygone story in 2015.
But Honourable Faseyi advised Tambuwal to thread the path of honour by resigning as speaker of the House, “rather than continue heating up the polity.”
In a statement made available to journalists at the weekend, Faseyi described the current leadership tussle in the House of Representatives as unnecessary and uncalled for.
According to him, inasmuch as the Nigerian constitution does not envisage possible defection of either the speaker of the Houseof Representatives or president of the Senate, Honourable Tambuwal should be bold enough to resign, “and if he is still interested in the same position, the speaker should be allowed to re-contest and leave his colleagues to judge.