Special Report: Tambuwal, Ihedioha: Two Sides Of A Coin

TAMBUWAL AND IHEDIOHA

 These are not the best of times for the leadership of the House of Representatives led by the Speaker, Rt Hon Aminu Waziri Tambuwal and his deputy, Rt Hon Emeka Ihedioha. They can be said to be trapped in the middle of a deep sea with its attendant waves blowing from various directions.

 The appeal instituted by the leadership of the House of Representatives against the judgment of an Abuja Federal High Court on the matter brought before it by the 37 defecting lawmakers has continued to generate suspicion on the part of the principal officers.

While the Speaker of the House, Rt Hon Aminu Waziri Tambuwal is a PDP member, his open fraternity with the opposition has not been in doubt. A report in a national daily had alleged that Tambuwal may cross carpet to the opposition APC to seek for nomination to be the party’s presidential candidate. The Speaker has not denied the report.

The same cannot be said of his Deputy, Rt Hon Emeka Ihedioha, who is believed to be aspiring to be Governor of Imo State on the platform of the PDP. At every fora, Ihedioha maintains he is a loyal PDP member.

But events, especially in the House of Representatives tend to contradict the posture of the Imo State born Deputy Speaker. Tambuwal and Ihedioha were elected as principal officers on the strength of opposition members in the House of Representatives who today constitute the bulk of the All Progressive Congress, APC.  They had defied the zoning arrangement of the Peoples Democratic Party which zoned the Speakership position to the South West. 

Since then, analysts say that the House and the executive Arm of government are not on one page considering the hostile posture of the leadership of the House towards the Jonathan administration in contrast to the friendly posture of the Senate.

This situation that has put the Tambuwal, Ihedioha led leadership on the spotlight as many wonder if the leadership of the House panders more to the whims and caprices of the opposition to the ruling party.

The recent move by the leadership of the House on the case of the defecting lawmakers tends to lend credence to this insinuation.

The House in recent times has been bedevilled with the defection of 37 members of the PDP to the APC. Legal wrangling has trailed the matter until it took a new turn last Monday when Justice Adeniyi Ademola of the Federal High Court restrained the defecting members of the House from altering the current composition of its leadership.

In a surprise move, Tambuwal and Ihedioha appealed against the Judgement. In a notice of appeal filed in Abuja by their lawyer, Mahmud Magaji (SAN), the three appellants faulted Justice Ademola’s reasoning and urged the Court of Appeal, Abuja to set aside the judgment.

The judgment was on a suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/4/14, filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) against the House of Representatives, its principal officers and members of the House, who defected from the party to the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC).

The appellants, who raised seven grounds of appeal, with a promise to add more, argued that the judgment is “perverse and not supported by the reliefs sought by the plaintiff.”

They added that the judge “erred in law when he granted reliefs not sought by the plaintiff.”

The appellants contended that the judgment “is against the weight of evidence.” And that he erred “when he granted the reliefs sought by the plaintiff and “went further to hold that the 1st to 39th respondents ought to have resigned their seats as members of the 1st appellant.

They argued that the judge erred when he held that the reliefs of the 1st respondent (PDP) were justiciable and proceeded to grant the reliefs sought without considering the provision of Section 30 of the Legislative Houses (Powers and Privileges) Act Cap L12 Law of the Federation of Nigeria 2004.

The section provides that “neither the President nor the Speaker as the case may be, of a legislative house shall be subjected to the jurisdiction of any court in respect of the exercise of any power conferred on or vested in him by or under this Act or the standing orders of the Constitution.”

The appellants argued that the judge wrongly assumed jurisdiction over the suit, which was predicated on the internal affairs of the House of Reps, which is protected under Section 60 of the Constitution. They further argued that the reliefs sought by the PDP were not justiciable, yet the judge proceeded to grant the reliefs.

They contended that the PDP lacked the locus standi to institute the case because it was not predicated on any recognised legal interest; the reliefs sought were not supported by any legal evidence and that the judge failed to reckon with the Supreme Court’s decision in the case of Fawehinmi vs Akilu (1987) 12 SC 136, Amaechi vs INEC (2008)1 LRECN 1.

The appellants faulted the judge for holding that the suit was rightly commenced with originating summons, without regard to the provision of Order 3 Rule 6 of the Federal High Court Civil Procedure Rules 2009.

They argued that the judge was wrong to have held that the claims of the PDP do not amount to an abuse of court process when there are similar cases, involving the same parties, still pending before the court.

They referred to suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/621/2013 between Senator Bello Hayato Gwazo and 79 others vs Alhaji Bamaga Tukur and four others and argued that the parties and reliefs sought were similar with that on which the judge gave judgment.

 Sensing the side effects of its action and its interpretation by his political foes, the Deputy Speaker clarified  his position on the appeal against the judgement of the Federal High Court, Abuja on the case involving the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the 37 members of the House who defected from PDP to All Progressives Congress (APC).

Maintaining that he remains a loyal member of the ruling PDP, Ihedioha, in a statement issued on Wednesday by his Chief Press Secretary, Oke Epia, said, ‘The attention of the Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Emeka Ihedioha, CON, has been drawn to some newspaper reports, stating that he has appealed the judgment of the Federal High Court concerning 37 members of the House that defected from PDP to APC.”

The statement said “For the avoidance of doubt, the Honourable Deputy Speaker wishes to clarify that he is just a nominal party in the suit by virtue of his office and counsel was briefed by the management of the National Assembly to represent the House of Representatives as an institution,” saying “The appeal was primarily instituted by the 37 members who defected from PDP to APC.”

The statement stressed that Ihedioha remains a firm and committed member of the PDP and associates himself fully with its ideals, principles, purposes and progress.

“The Deputy Speaker will take steps to retain an independent counsel of his choice to take steps to protect his legal interests in the matter. This is to correct the impression conveyed by these publications that the Deputy Speaker is at odd purposes with his political party, the Peoples Democratic Party’’

“The media is therefore requested to be fully aware of the above clarifications in its reportage of the issues,” the statement added.

Close observers of the ongoing issue see the Deputy Speaker’s press statement as a face saving exercise in order to remain in the good books of forces in the PDP who will shape his governorship aspiration and at the same time, prove to doubting thomases that he is not the hand of Esau in the PDP family.

This is not so for Tambuwal whose body language shows he is PDP in spirit and APC at heart and he has not made any pretenses about it.

But pundits argue that the action of the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker should not be misconstrued to question the loyalty of the duo, especially the deputy speaker who is oiling his much trumpeted governorship ambition on the platform of the PDP.

Ernest Onyeoma, a political analyst said the actions of the Speaker and the deputy Speaker is timely and necessary in order to stabilize the House which is on the verge of erupting like a volcano over the issue of the defecting lawmakers.

He said “At this juncture, they have to stabilize the House. They have to calm frayed nerves. Irrespective of political party affiliation, this is the time the leadership has to demonstrate strong character to the soothe frayed nerves of both PDP and APC members in the House over the defection issue. This matter can blow up the House if not properly managed and this is where both the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker comes in. They ought to preserve the unity of the House in the interest of our democracy”

For Ihedioha’s political foes, he ought to do more to show he is not romancing both the PDP and APC. “He has to do more, it is either he is for us or he is not. He and the Speaker are two sides of a coin”