The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Aminu Tambuwal, bowed out on Tuesday after handing over the leadership of the legislature to his deputy, Mr. Emeka Ihedioha, who will round off the tenure of the House on June 5.
Tambuwal, Governor-elect for Sokoto State, will be inaugurated on May 29 as governor.
His decision to transfer power to Ihedioha ahead of the May 29 handover date was to avoid a possible constitutional crisis of taking oath of office for two separate offices.
While he will be inaugurated as governor on May 29, his current tenure as a member of the House will end on June 6.
Tambuwal, who spoke with journalists soon after Tuesday’s sitting of the House, disclosed that the members agreed at an executive session that Ihedioha should preside over the affairs of the House till June 6.
According to him, the 1999 Constitution does not envisage a situation where the Speaker will leave one office for another, while the oath taken for the current one is subsisting.
However, he noted that under the Standing Orders of the House, a Speaker Pro-tempore was required to be elected by members to run the House for any period the substantive Speaker would not be available.
But, he explained that the extant case was different because he would not return to the House anymore.
Tambuwal stated that the other alternative would have been to shut down the House before June 6, but said he was not in support of such a move.
Meanwhile, one of the contestants for the speakership of the 8th Assembly, Mr. Mohammed Monguno, on Tuesday voluntarily withdrew from the race.
Monguno, who is from Borno State, said that he was stepping down to back the candidature of House Minority Leader, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila, one of the frontline contenders.
Monguno added that he would instead join Gbajabiamila for the position of deputy speaker.
Part of a statement he issued in Abuja, read, “After broad consultations and thoughtful consideration, I have decided not to run for the office of the Speaker in the 8th Assembly.
Source:The Punch
