Between Tambuwal and ingratitude

I RECEIVED the news of the defection of Rt. Hon Aminu
Tambuwal from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to
the All Progressive Congress, APC, with stoic and
philosophical calmness. Apart from being a sour taste
in the mouth, it is also laden with legal and political
miscalculations and labyrinths.
As at today, going by the clear wordings of Section
68(1)(g) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria as amended, and the ruling of the
court, that a member that defects from his party, when
there is no division (SHALL) vacate his seat.
The word “SHALL” is not only a mandatory, but also
very sacrosanct. There is a subsisting court ruling that
there is no division in the PDP, and Aminu Tambuwal,
in the eyes of the law, would naturally vacate his seat
as a member of the House of Representatives and by
concomitant effects, as Speaker of the House of
Representatives.
Politics and law are like siamese twins, and the law
has always been found as its mitigating brother.
In the First Republic, the clear wordings of Section
33(1) of the Western Region of Nigerian Constitution
was that the Governor “shall” remove the Premier (when
it appears to him) that the Premier no longer
commands the support of majority members of the
Regional House of Assembly.
The Governor, Sir Adesoji Tadeniawo Aderemi, the Ooni
of Ife, removed the Premier, when it appeared to him,
that the Premier’s support in the Parliament had
waned.
The Action Group, following the removal, appointed
Alhaji Dauda Soroye Adegbenro, as its new Premier.
The removal of Chief S.L. Akintola precipitated major
crisis against his government and removal on the May
25, 1962, and he forcibly opened the Premier’s Office
to illegally continue in office as Governor of Western
Region.
This simple act of belligerence and audacity led the
then Prime Minister, Alhaji Tafawa Balewa, to suspend
the Parliament of the Western Region, and appointed
Dr. Olukoye Majekodunmi as Administrator of the
Western Region, on May 22, 1962, and he instructed
the Nigeria Police to restore peace and normalcy.
It is instructive to note that a popular stubborn lemon
grass has since been known as “Akintola ta ku”.
The President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as the
Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces has
numerous powers under the law to forestall the
breakdown of law and order in the House of
Representatives, and any part of Nigeria, through the
Inspector General of Police, by giving operational
meaning to Section 68(1) (g) of the 1999 Constitution
as amended, by removing Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal from
the House of Representatives, and also as Speaker of
the House of Representatives, by withdrawing all the
perquisites of office that is attached to that
responsibilities, which of course include Police escorts
and security.
In retrospect, during my time as a Member of the
House of Representatives between 1999 and 2003, and
as brilliant, audacious and belligerent Alhaji Gali Umar
Na’abba, Speaker of the House of Representatives, then
was, he did not cross the borderline of dumping the
party that gave him the privilege of becoming the
number four citizen of Nigeria, but remained vocal and
loyal to the PDP despite very obvious misgivings.
Alhaji Ghali Na’abba unlike many of us, perhaps as
aclairvoyant, saw the emerging tyranny and
dictatorship in the then Executive Government of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The Federal Government would be acting within the
dictates of law, morality and commonsense and
decency, by removing Aminu Tambuwal from the
Nigerian parliament through the instrumentality of the
law i.e. section 68(1) (g) of the 1999 Constitution, as
amended, which states that a member who leaves his
party when there is no division or merger shall vacate
his seat.
The word “shall” has enjoyed so many legal
interpretations as a sacrosanct and mandatory word,
through the wordings of the great Lord Denning MR in
the 1961 Privy Council case of BENJAMIN LEONARD
MACFOY VS. UAC LTD 1961 3 AER 1169 Pc and the
1980 Supreme Court decision in SKENCONSULT NIG
LTD vs. GODWIN SEKONDU UKEY SC 50/1980.
Whilst William Shakespeare, described ingratitude as
”monstrous”, and James Thomson describes it as
”treason to mankind”, Immanuel Kant described it
as-”the essence of vileness” and Titus Maccus Platus
says “you love a nothing when you love an ingrate”,
which is better encapsulated in the Latin maxim nihil
amas um ingratum amas.
Julius Caesar in William Shakespeare embellished it
further when he said: ”Ingratitude thrives fast at first,
but fades in time”.
Tambuwal has in the last few years demonstrated an
unkind and unjust act of ingratitude to the political
party that took him to the parliament as an honourable
member and on the platform through which he became
the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the
number four citizen of Nigeria. However, he should be
reminded that he who is not grateful to his benefactor,
that is his party (PDP) in this instance, would not be
grateful to the rest of mankind from whom he has
received no benefaction, whilst also wishing him
success in this new voyage.
Mr. Femi Kehinde, a former member of the House of
Representatives, wrote from Ibadan, Oyo State.