There is no controversy about the suitability of the former governor of Sokoto state ,speaker House of Representatives and now senator representing (South) Sokoto state on the need to be appointed as Principal officer of the senate , particularly the minority leadership.
Conventionally, Senator Aminu Waziri Tambuwal as a former federal Lawmaker of ranking advantage had edge over all other Senators from PDP to be appointed as Minority Leader.
Aside the merit and ranking advantage, it is on record that he led a vibrant 7th Assembly that asserted Legislature-Executive relationship and seamless working conditions that gave not only independent of the three arms of government, but in full practice.
He fought gallantly for the insulation of the legislative arm of government from the Executive monopoly that occasioned healthy and unhealthy affront including confrontation to the interest of the international Communities.
Senator Tambuwal in his bid to protect and sustain our nascent democracy jumped through the fence along with some of his colleagues to resist not only Executive interferences and monopoly, a record not broken in recent times, except during the 8th House of Yakubu Dogara who defected from the ruling APC to PDP and retained his seat.
For Tambuwal he was neither removed by the Executive fiat or defected to any other party , but remained in the position of the Speaker of the House of Representatives till the end of the 7th Assembly.
He had made a quantum sacrifices to advance Nigeria’s democracy in all ramifications, by not only keeping the independent of the legislative arm of government, but act as checks and balances on the activities of Executive arm of government.
Senator Tambuwal was chronicled as the symbol of Nigerian democracy who defied all odds to defend the norms in Nigeria.
This was different from the greater roles he had played over the years in the main opposition party PDP as state governor, and recently as the Director- General, People’s Democratic Party PDP Presidential Campaign team for the 2023 general elections.
Having won the Senatorial seat from Sokoto state in the last election in 2023, Senator Tambuwal had fulfilled both the National Assembly convention and the party’s requirements to become the legitimate Senate Minority Leader of the 10th Senate without recourse to non convention issues.
The President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio also a ranking Senator is conscious of the requirements and will not succumb to both internal and external influences, intra and inter party squabbles, to undo the basic requirements of not appointing Senator Aminu Waziri Tambuwal as the new Senate Minority Leader.
Yusuf Writes from Abuja and can be reached on yus.abubakar3@gmail.com.
