The defection of the speaker of the lower chamber of Nigeria’s parliament did not come as a surprise. It was an event that was long foreseen and foretold; the question revolves on not whether he will defect but on when it will happen. It is no longer a conjecture but now a settled case: Speaker Tambuwal is now a member of APC.
But what have not settled are the ripples the said defection generated. Just few hours after the defection, PDP National Publicity Secretary – Olisa Metuh – released a briefing telling Speaker Tambuwal to do the `needful’. This generated a hot debate across partisan lines. It is this argument for and against the `needful’ that has dominated Nigerian public discussions of late.
Conventionally speaking, proponents for `the needful’ were right in that the speakership of Tambuwal was informed by virtue of PDP winning the majority seats in the lower House of Parliament. This argument holds irrespective of the counterclaims that that opposition party (now APC) contributed significantly to Tambuwal’s emergence on June 6, 2007 against the PDP supported madam Akande-Adeola. Also, Tambuwal’s adjournment of the resumption of the House to December is a slap on political propriety.
Constitutionally, the needful crusaders are also right, because the 1999 constitution and House rules do not say he must quit. The 1999 constitution section 50(1) stipulates: There shall be:-
(a) a President and a Deputy President of the Senate, who shall be elected by the members of that House from among themselves; and (b) a Speaker and a Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, who shall be elected by the members of that House from among themselves.
(2) The President or Deputy President of the Senate or the Speaker or Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives shall vacate his office –
(a) if he ceases to be a member of the Senate or of the House of Representatives, as the case may be, otherwise than by reason of a dissolution of the Senate or the House of Representatives; or
(b) when the House of which he was a member first sits after any dissolution of that House; or
(c) if he is removed from office by a resolution of the Senate or of the House of Representatives, as the case may be, by the votes of not less than two- thirds majority of the members of that House.
So from this constitutional provision, it is evident that election of the Parliament’s principal officers is not party affair but an in House election in which a minority party can produce the Parliament’s presiding officer.
It is obvious that Tambuwal will continue to be speaker since the house has been adjourned to December and nobody can recall the house if not the presiding officer. And by December, resignation will no longer be an issue as election will dominate the political landscape – what a political smartness?
Asikason Jonathan,
Enugwu-Ukwu, Anambra State
