The plans by the immediate past Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike to frustrate the emergence of the former Governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Tambuwal as Senate Minority Leader appears to be coming to fruition with a good number of Senators elected on the platforms of opposition political parties kicking against his choice.
The opposition senators on Wednesday night in Abuja sealed the fate of the former Governor after they reached a consensus to thwart the plans by the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its presidential candidate in the 2023 election, Atiku Abubakar, to foist Tambuwal on them.
The lawmakers maintained that Tambuwal has a record of throwing his political allies under the bus at critical moments to promote his selfish interest and lacks the capacity to provide the needed leadership to them as minority leader.
Against this background, the senators at the meeting said they have resolved to support any ranking senator other than the former Sokoto State governor.
They expressed readiness to resist the imposition of Tambuwal the same way many PDP lawmakers fought against the emergence of Godswill Akpabio as Senate president, who they claimed was foisted on them by the All Progressives Congress (APC).
They said with what Tambuwal did against the PDP, he would use the minority leadership position to negotiate and apologise to President Bola Tinubu who he betrayed after making him Speaker of the House of Representatives in 2011.
Speaking with journalists after the meeting late Wednesday night, three PDP senators — one from Rivers State — another from the North and a ranking senator from the South West expressed their readiness to support any person other beside Tambuwal.
They were of the opinion that Tambuwal whose regime has come under scrutiny in Sokoto State is on a mission to use the minority leadership position to negotiate for self preservation and use the platform to run for presidential election in 2027.
One of the Senators said: “Because of his inconsistency, unreliable nature and slippery character, both President Tinubu and Akpabio have made it clear to senators close to them that on no account should he be supported.
“As a result of his antecedents, senators are rejecting calls by PDP officials and their governors insisting that Tambuwal is no option.”
Another lawmaker noted that considering the political activities of Tambuwal for the past one decade, he should not be trusted with such a key position
His words: “He seems to have a record of treachery and betrayal of close friends and allies as he did to Goodluck Jonathan, Nyesom Wike, Tinubu himself and several others.
“In 2019, he went against his party, the PDP, and a sitting president to rubbish the PDP zoning arrangements just because it favored him; he always plays to ethnic and religious card when it favors him.
“When he became speaker with the support of opposition elements (that is Tinubu, Muhammadu Buhari and other leaders), he used the platform of speakership to effectively rubbish the presidency of Johnathan and the PDP and decamped/abandoned the party that made it possible and moved the APC and negotiated to be governor.
“Buhari, Tinubu, Wamako and others rewarded him for his treachery against the PDP but his ambition could not be accommodated so he betrayed Wamako, Tinubu, Buhari and aligned with Atiku and came back to PDP with the APC mandate that was given to him with the hope of running for presidency.
“Wike against all odds backed him and promised to deliver the presidential nomination to him but thank God that did not succeed.
“In 2021, he again went for a presidential visit but this time did not get Wike’s support. He then betrayed Wike finally instead of supporting him to reward him for his loyalty in the primaries. This is the record of the politician Atiku wants to foist as minority leader on the party.”
