Ex-lawmaker backs calls for Tambuwal’s resignation

 

 

A former member of the House of Representatives from Ekiti-North Federal Constituency II, Duro Faseyi, has advised the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, to resign immediately in order to retain his integrity.

According to Punchng.com Tambuwal has faced intense pressure to resign since he defected from the Peoples Democratic Party to the All Progressives Congress on October 28, 2014.

Faseyi, in a statement on Monday, said Tambuwal should thread the path of honour rather than heat up the polity with his insistence to be the Speaker of the lower legislative chamber.

The ex-lawmaker said although the Speaker has the right to change his political party, there were modalities that needed to be followed to retain his position.

According to Faseyi, Tambuwal had forfeited his position as a Speaker when he defected from the PDP to the APC.

He said, “The PDP has the majority in the House presently. What I was expecting Tambuwal to do as a leader and good legislator was for him to also announce his resignation alongside his defection and transfer the leadership of the House to his deputy.

“This would then be followed by a fresh election of the Speaker, which he has every right to also contest.

“The current leadership tussle in the House of Representatives is unnecessary. Inasmuch as the Nigeria constitution did not envisage a possible defection of either the Speaker of the House of Representatives or the Senate President, Honourable Tambuwal should be bold enough to resign and if he is still interested in the same position, the Speaker should be allowed to contest again and leave his colleagues to judge.

“What we are experiencing now is nothing but a flaw in our constitution that anybody did not envisage and the only solution is for the Speaker to resign and re-contest since he became the Speaker by the virtue of his membership of the PDP.

Faseyi   also condemned the leadership of the APC for its refusal to prevail on Tambuwal to resign, saying, “What the APC is telling us is that the minority is greater than the majority in their constitution.”

He added, “But instead of allowing for peace to reign in the House, Honourable Tambuwal and his APC members continue to manipulate things, causing uneasy calm in the House because of their selfish interest without considering the implications of their actions on the country and Nigerians.”

The ex-lawmaker, however, called on the members of the House not to be distracted but to always stand by the truth and push for good legislations.

“They should see the business of the House as a way of contributing their quota towards the development of the nation rather than base all their judgments on political affiliations,” he said.

 

Source: Punch