PLOT TO REMOVE SPEAKER TAMBUWAL THICKENS!

The plot to remove the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal, is gathering momentum as some lawmakers believed to be loyal to the presidency have intensified efforts to effect leadership change in the lower chamber.
But as the moves intensified, President Goodluck Jonathan on Friday relieved his Special Adviser on National Assembly Matters, Joy Emordi, of her appoitment. He also terminated the appointment of the his Special Adviser on the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), Dr. Tunji Olagunju. Their sack, which was contained in a statement issued by the Special Adviser to President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Reuben Abati, came barely one week after the President sacked nine ministers in a major cabinet shake up believed to have been influenced partly by the need to inject fresh blood into his administration and to also weed his cabinet of members connected to some of his political adversaries in the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). On the move to remove the speaker, the House leadership is not leaving things to chance. In a well calculated move to foil the plot, the House on Thursday adjourned plenary session for one week, barely two days after it resumed from recess. Though, the reason cited was that the adjournment was to allow members embark on oversight functions, it was gathered that it was part of the strategy by members loyal to Tambawal to stave off his impeachment.

Sources said the plot against the speaker had been slated for execution when President Goodluck Jonathan would not be in Nigeria. The President is billed to depart for New York this weekend to attend United Nations General Assembly.
THISDAY gathered that key figures in the plot to remove Tambuwal include the House leader, Hon. Mulitkat Akande from Oyo State, Deputy House Leader, Hon. Leo Ogor from Delta State, and Hon. Bethel Amadi from Imo State. Akande vied for the speakership against Tambuwal in 2011. The anti Tambuwal members are said to be using Bolingo Hotel Abuja as their meeting point and a meeting was said to have held last Wednesday. A member of the Tambuwal inner caucus said, "We are not going to be taken unaware. Since the President has declared war on us, we don’t want to be taken unaware. As part of the strategy to save the Speaker, we used the the oversight function to allow for the tension to calm down. They are plotting and we are also plotting. We are not leaving any stone unturned in this battle".

But Chairman House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Hon. Zakary Mohammed, said the adjournment had nothing to do with impeachment moves as he explained that the House would use the period to conduct its oversight functions to ascertain the level of implementation of the 2013 Appropriation Act.
Another lawmaker however told THISDAY that they were aware that anti-Tambuwal's lawmakers had planned that the removal of the Speaker would be effected in the President's absence so as not to link him to the plot.
"It happened during their plot to remove Governor Amaechi as chairman of the Governors’ Forum. He (President) was in Ethiopia," the source said, adding, " We are not afraid, we have the capacity to do what is right in the House.We are equal to the task".
Giving instances of how the Tambuwal’s camp had been checkmating Jonathan's loyalists in the House, the source said, "Check out how the motion from the House Leader, Akande, failed. The battle line is drawn. Any bill or motion from them should be considered dead".
THISDAY was told that the pro-Tambawaal’s camp may test its strength when the House recovenes by moving for the removal of Akande and Ogor as House leader and Deputy House leader respectively.

" We cannot be operating at cross purposes. The Presidency has taken a stand and we will not begging. All their moves are well known to us",  another member said.
Though, no reason was given for their sack, .Emordi's sack came few days after the visit of Alhaji Kawu Baraje, the leader of the new PDP, a group that broke away from the ruling party on August 31, 2013. Baraje had visited the National Assembly alongside the seven state governors loyal to the splinter group.
THISDAY checks revealed that the Presidency has been under intense pressure to remove Emodi over allegations that she had not been hard enough on leadership and members of the National Assembly.
It was learnt that the hardliners in the Presidency believe that Emodi ought to have done more to whip the lawmakers into line and end the frosty relationship between the executive and the legislature.
But Emodi, an erstwhile Chairman, Senate Committee on Education was said to have maintained that her brief did not include attacking the parliamentarians but to constantly seek a peaceful way of resolving the conflicts between them and the executive arm of government.

Throughout her tenure, Emodi adopted a diplomatic approach to resolving these conflicts. In one of her interviews with the media, Emodi had once explained that her experience as a legislator informed her diplomatic approach to her assignment as Presidential Adviser on National Assembly Matters. Her sack could however mean the "triumph of the hardliners" in the Presidency. It was also gathered that part of the issues held against her was her constant opposition to meetings between some members of the House of Representatives and officials of the Presidency, insisting that such meeting could generate mistrust between the House and the Presidency.
A close source told THISDAY that Senator Emordi had on several occassions complained to President Jonathan about how some Presidency officials were holding meetings with members of the House, and warned that such meetings could be misinterpreted to mean that the President was not comfortable with some principal officers of the House.
"Each time these officials of the Presidency meet with members of the House of Representatives, Madam always complain to the President. So her sack, may not be unconnected with some of the challenges that she was having in the course of her job as the Special Adviser to the President on National Assembly", the source.
Another source told THISDAY last night that her sack may also not be unconnected to the running battle she had been having with the Chief of Staff to the President, Chief Mike Ogiedhome, over her refusal to report to him. It was gathered that Emordi in a position as special adviser reported to the President directly.

Source:This Day.