BY TAIWO FAROTIMI
The defection of Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State from the All Progressives Congress, APC is unique. He did not just announce his decision to leave the party, he also left with members of the state House of Assembly. His exit from the APC differs from that of Samuel Ortom, his Benue State counterpart, who also left two days ago.
What that means is that were his former party to be unhappy about his defection and want to use the legislature against him he had closed the option.
Tambuwal had shown his distrust of the APC federal government early this month when he said the security crisis in the country was an indication of failure of leadership.
His defection came few days after reports of meetings with officials of the opposition party. Some party members had told Tambuwal and his other colleagues in the APC who are said to be eyeing PDP to take their leave. But if they were expecting him to defect, few of them would have expected that he would leave with members of the house of assembly.
That feat is suggestive of the political clout he wields in the state and the confidence that the legislators have in him. The announcement came after Isa Sadiq Achida, state chairman of APC denied rumours that Tambuwal was on his way out of the party. The party chairman has yet to find his voice after Tambuwal’s exit.
He had taken a similar step three years ago when he was speaker of the House of Representatives. While reading a message after plenary in the house then, he told his colleagues he was leaving because of development in his People’s Democratic Party, PDP back home in Sokoto. The major beneficiary then was APC, which today is at the receiving end of the defection that has been widely speculated.
Tambuwal then cited the crisis in PDP , a similar ailment that has infected APC today. Another echo from the past is that the defection has been long foretold. And after he left PDP then he continued to administer the House of Representatives. Now Tambuwal will also remain in the saddle as governor of Sokoto State, despite the fact that he was elected on the platform of the APC.
There is yet another element that is similar to the movement over three years ago. He is likely to get a raise in his political stature.
This is because shortly before the defection there have been reports that Tambuwal is one of the people being considered for the presidential ticket of the opposition PDP. The speculation has been on for a long time that his name is on the list of northern politicians expected to take over from President Muhammadu Buhari in the 2019 election.
Others are Rabiu Kwakwanso, former governor of Kano State. The former Kano State governor is said to be working on an alliance with Ibrahim Shekarau, also a former governor of the state.
But the crowd of aspirants in the opposition is bigger than this number. Among the top ones are former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and Sule Lamido, former governor of Jigawa State who is a founding member of PDP.
All of them, except Abubakar are from northwestern part of the country, the geo-political zone of the incumbent president. Tambuwal, the youngest of them was also a choice of the bookmakers in 2015. Then it is said that consideration of lack of experience worked against him. Will he be lucky this time?
