Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, on Monday attended a meeting with All Progressives Congress (APC) stakeholders in his home Sokoto State.
The meeting may herald the 48-year-old’s official defection from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on whose platform he was elected Speaker in 2011.
He has however refused to confirm or deny his long-awaited defection.
A statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Public Affairs, Imam Imam, made available to qed.ng on Monday evening said “consultations on the Speaker’s political future continues and the outcome will be made public at the appropriate time.”
Hinting at relationship that has broken down between his principal and the PDP, Imam said, “today, Monday, 20/10/2014, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Tony Anenih, led other members of the party to a reconciliation meeting in Sokoto but the Speaker of the House of Representatives and a member of the NEC of the PDP, Rt. Hon Aminu Waziri Tambuwal CFR, was not invited to the meeting.”
He provided further clarification: “That Rt. Hon Speaker Aminu Waziri Tambuwal was later invited by His Excellency, the Executive Governor of Sokoto State, Alhaji Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko, to attend the meeting of their political family to discuss the political future of Sokoto State.
“That the Speaker, Rt. Hon Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, duly obliged and attended the meeting.
“That the meeting had in attendance prominent Sokoto citizens many of who have no known political affiliation. The most notable been the Sardauna of Sokoto and former Minister of Finance, Alhaji Abubakar Alhaji.”
Tambuwal’s eventual defection will surprise very few, giving his public fraternity with the nation’s opposition party.
He owes his emergence as Speaker to opposition members of the House who ensured he defeated PDP’s favoured candidate, Mulikat Akande-Adeola, also a ranking member of the party from Oyo State.
While he has remained officially a PDP speaker, Tambuwal is believed to have long fallen out with the party and has been absent from key party functions.
