…Accuses The Speakers Of Holding PDP To Ransom
Former President of the Senate and Third Republic politician, Senator Ameh Ebute, has accused the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal of treacherous acts against the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
In a seven-page letter entitled “Aminu Tambuwal, defected 37 PDP members, impunity, treachery and INEC” the former senate president chronicled a compendium of allegations against Tambuwal, describing him as a mole an assignment to pull the party down.
Ebute said Tambuwal’s romance with the All Progressive Congress APC and its leaders especially Senator Bola Tinubu on account of the latter’s support for his speakership was a Greek gift which would backfire on former.
“Can you imagine that a so- called Yoruba leader Ahmed Bola Tinubu will support, you to deny the Yorubas the position zone to them? The motive for the Tinubu’s support was definitely not altruistic but devious, manipulative, disharmonious and destructive. My brother that was a Greek gift then and it is still a Greek gift now.”
However, Tambuwal has dismissed Ebute’s allegations, saying that he won’t join issues with the ex-senate president until he received the said letter.
A terse statement issued by his Special Adviser Media, Mr. Imam Imam, Tambuwal said: “As a result of various inquiries made by reporters on the position of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, on a letter purportedly written and addressed to him by former Senator, Ameh Ebutte, we wish to state that the office of the Speaker will respond appropriately whenever the letter is received.
“In the meantime, we wish to state that the Hon. Speaker will not join issues with the former Senator,” the statement added.
Ebute’s letter copied the Senate President, National Chairman, PDP, Chairman BOT, PDP, Chairman, INEC, Inspector General of Police, Chief Justice of Nigeria, also accused Tambuwal of shielding the 37 defected APC lawmakers despite court ruling that strip them of their seat.
The letter read:
In order to understand fully where I am coming from, it is good to give you a little background about my group and myself. As a lawyer, a Former Senate President, a Christian, a Northern Nigerian and a Nigerian, in all humility, I can claim that I am a major stakeholder in this entity called Nigeria. I therefore feel comfortable and justified to speak out when I observe that things are going wrong in this country.
On the 28 of November 2013, I wrote an open letter to the Senate President, Senator David Mark titled: National Assembly, National Budget and the Presidency. In the said letter, I made my honest opinion known concerning the role of the National Assembly on the National Budget and the constitutional responsibilities of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
You know very well that Senator David Mark is a Christian and a Northerner like myself. I therefore urge you not to look at this open letter with bias if your conscience permits.
The Tambuwal I know was not a founding member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). He won election into House of Representatives in 2003 on the platform of the ANPP. He was a strong loyalist of Gov. Wamakko of Sokoto State. And when Wamakko abandoned the ANPP and grabbed the ticket of the PDP offered him by General Obasanjo, Tambuwal an appendage of Wamakko followed him to the PDP that was how Tambuwal won an election and became the Deputy Majority Leader under the leadership of Hon Dimeji Bankole (CFR) as Speaker of the House of Representatives.
As a former Senate President, my colleagues and associates were very worried at the inception of the current House, when you Hon Tambuwal connived with the opposition, entered into agreement with the now defunct ACN and CPC hoodwinked a good number of the members of the House of Representatives in order to scuttle the plan of the PDP to install a South West member of the House in accordance with the agreed zoning arrangement.
When the PDP zoned the Speakership of the House to the South West it was expected that all members elected on the platform of the Party would be loyal to it. The leadership of the PDP did not know that there was a mole in the PDP. The opposition represented by the defunct ACN and CPC supported you Hon Tambuwal and deceived some Honorable members of the PDP in order to install you Speaker of the House.
It was obvious to all that the intention of the opposition and yourself was to cause disaffection in the polity as your emergence as Speaker disenfranchised the South West.
The South West has been very aggrieved that the position zoned to them was taken away. And they erroneously blame Mr. President for this predicament. The marginalization issue became one of the reasons for which they demanded a National Conference.
You would recall that Gen. Obasanjo voiced the disappointment of the South West when you emerged as the Speaker.
In fact, Obasanjo even issued you an ultimatum to vacate the seat of the speaker of the House. Can you imagine that a so- called Yoruba leader Ahmed Bola Tinubu will support, you to deny the Yorubas the position zone to them? The motive for the Tinubu’s support was definitely not altruistic but devious, manipulative, disharmonious and destructive.
My brother that was a Greek gift then and it is still a Greek gift now.
By agreeing to partner with the opposition you have inadvertently made yourself a traitor, somebody treacherous, somebody capable of derailing the course of Nigeria and somebody who can never be trusted. Nigerians now see you as a willing tool ready to be used for treacherous activities.
My brother, recall that you are a young man. Recall also that you have a political future ahead of you.
It is instructive and laughable when I hear you dream of the APC presidential ticket. You have been mindlessly misled to believe this is achievable. Time will prove you wrong.
You have been gallivanting the whole length and breadth of the Country visiting where you are not wanted. Attending Obituaries, I birthday parties, and generally doing “notice me” all in an effort to earn the appellate of “President in waiting”.
Some of your backers nudge you on. I remember not too long ago Gen. Ibrahim B. Babangida publicly advised you to “seek a higher office”, understandably meaning the Presidency.
For sometime now I heard you talk about corruption in the Body Polity of Nigeria. You even had the effrontery to say that the body language of Mr. President supports corruption. Unfortunately, you did not answer the former President Obasanjo when he called you an “Armed Robber”. You also did not respond when the suspended Governor of the Central Bank Sanusi Lamido Sanusi alleged that you misappropriate and misapply 50% of the Nation’s recurrent expenditure budget.
My brother, you coerced and cajoled 37 members of the PDP to defect to the APC while you the hatchet leader of the plot decided to remain in the PDP so that you can finally bury the PDP. This is according to the words of Governor Nyako of Adamawa State. You institute court cases against your Party the PDP. You refuse to attend party rallies and other party functions and yet you remain in the PDP.
When some members of the PDP in the Senate wanted to defect to the APC, the Senate President handled it as a Loyal Party member and a Nationalist with the interest of Nigeria at heart. Whereas, in your case you engaged in deft political intrigues and legislative gymnastics in the quest to please your opposition friends. Even after the court judgment you have continued to dither in declaring vacant the seats of the 37 defected PDP House of Representative members.
Honourable Tambuwal are you aware that these defected PDP members should NOT be allowed to participate in House matters and can therefore not be paid salaries?
As a Muslim do you think what you are doing to the PDP is right and I indeed do you think your actions are democratic?
You are simply holding the PDP to RANSOM.
What do you expect young Nigerians to believe is the correct way to behave?
Knowing you, the impunity and arrogance in you will not allow you make the right decision. Of course your masters are watching you and you are a willing tool in their soft, dirty and evil hands.
Since you the Speaker of the House of Representatives is compromised, it is understandable that you will not declare the 37 seats vacant.
I therefore seize this opportunity to call on INEC to guide you appropriately to declare these seats vacant. The failure of the speaker and the INEC to act in accordance with the Saws could breed anarchy.
This is a serious threat to our budding democracy.
In conclusion, no one person can be bigger than his party and or Nigeria. Your personal interest cannot be more important than the interest of all Nigerians. I urge you to have a rethink and retrace your steps.
Please accept the assurances of my highest esteem.
Cc: The Senate President.
National Chairman, PDP.
Chairman BOT, PDP.
Chairman, INEC.
Inspector General of Police.
Chief Justice of Nigeria.
