Senate Minority Leader: Tambuwal stumbles, swept away by an approaching desert storm
* Wike, G5 secure their pound of flesh;
* Suffocate Atiku’s hope to control PDP in NASS
By Jonas Happy
Flash back: Ex-Governor Nyesom Wike and President-elect Bola Tinubu wave to excited crowds after meeting in Port Harcourt few days before inauguration day to strengthen their partnership.
Senator Aminu Tambuwal, former Governor of Sokoto State has lost his bid to occupy the position of the Minority Leader on the floor of the Senate.
He was floored by Simon Mwadkon, representing Plateau North on the platform of the PDP who now steps in as Senate Minority Leader.
It may have been a huge win for Mwadkon who is the only PDP Senator on the Plateau, but Tambuwal’s fall may equally have led to celebrations among smiles to the lips of members of the G5 headed by ex-Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State.
Earlier, Tambuwal who betrayed Wike and the G5 during the PDP convention had been endorsed by Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the defeated presidential candidate of the PDP and some members of the party’s NWC.
But luck ran out on them. 30 Senators with close ties to the opposition on the floor of the red chamber signed a document before voting day endorsing Mwadkon as their preferred candidate.
It was game over. Tambuwal’s opponents not only succeeded to put him in a coffin, they somehow found the appropriate nails to seal the coffin permanently.
A Senator (name withheld) had told this publication Tuesday morning, “we are good to go”, that was before his colleagues filed into the red chamber.
Although there were speculations that Wike and the G5 were backing Jarigbe, that tale played up in the press obviously turned out to be a complete hoax.
Jarigbe was neither in the race as he insisted nor was the G5 involved in any plot to draft him in as a candidate.
Aminu Tambuwal stumbles, tumbles in the face an approaching stormSo, who flew the kite and why? The origin of the tale still remains a mystery. Was it a mere decoy planted in the press to divert attention? Nobody is sure.
Was it even possible in country that most of the time concerns itself with regional and ethnic balancing to contemplate a Senate President from Akwa Ibom and Minority Leader from Cross River? It didn’t look quite likely.
Last week, Wike reportedly had a meeting for close to two hours with some National Assembly leaders. That meeting took place behind closed doors.
Atiku Abubakar (left) blown away in an election he did not win; Senator Iyorchia Ayu (middle) kicked out of office as National Chairman of the PDP while Nyesom Wike, ex-governor of Rivers State looks on as the last man standing.
The defeat of Tambuwal, some say, which began with the loss of Sokoto State to the APC completes the political vengeance allegedly plotted by Wike and the G5 that started with the electoral failure of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.
Senator Iyorchia Ayu, National Chairman of the party has long been tossed into the PDP’s rubbish can, a casualty of a fiercely fought political war that he orchestrated.
Other Minority officials who emerged on the floor of the Senate after the fall of Aminu Tambuwal are Oyewumi Olalere, Senate Deputy Minority Leader (Osun), Darlington Nwokocha, Senate Minority Whip (Abia), and Rufai Hanga, Senate Deputy Minority Whip (Kano).
According to Politics Nigeria, Akpabio said while announcing the names of the new leaders that “the minority caucus of the senate is made up of about seven political parties and have come up with their leadership, so I will proceed to announce [the names].
“Senator Simon Mwadkwon, minority leader, Oyewumi Olalere, deputy minority leader, senator Darlington Nwokocha, minority whip, and senator Rufai Anga, deputy minority whip.”