How Tambuwal Betrayed Me – Femi Gbajabiamila

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila has narrated how the Governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Tambuwal betrayed him in his earlier aspiration of becoming the Speaker.

Gbajabiamila disclosed this in a recent book, ‘Mr Speaker: The Legislative Life, Service And Resilience of Femi Gbajabiamila, which was written by two of his aides, Dr Charles Omole and Musa Abdullahi Krishi.

The speaker recalled how Tambuwal whom he supported to emerge Speaker of the House in 2011 turned his back on him when it was his turn.

According to Gbajabiamila, he was disappointed when Tambuwal failed to support him only to line behind Yakubu Dogara in 2015.

He further stated that Tambuwal made sure that he was defeated by Dogara in his quest for Speaker in 2015.

Narrating the event, Gbajabiamila said, “Not only did Gbajabiamila work for Tambuwal’s emergence in 2011, but he also stood by him through thick and thin throughout the four-year tenure. For example, when there were attempts by the then executive arm to remove Tambuwal, following his defection to the APC, Gbajabiamila, along with like-minded, had to scale the National Assembly gate to access the House chamber to forestall the plot.

“Coming to 2015, with all the sacrifices that Gbajabiamila made for Tambuwal, it was taken for granted that the (now) Sokoto State governor would support him to emerge Speaker. But the outgoing Speaker had another plan – to have Dogara succeed him.”

Gbajabiamila giving an insight into how the Sokoto State Governor betrayed him said, “When the time came for the speakership election, it was taken for granted.

“I didn’t even lose any sleep over who Tambuwal was supporting; he had become widely popular in the House at the time.

“He was close to my family. So, we were surprised when we started hearing little things here and there. Even when I started hearing that he was supporting someone else, I thought it was not true, until I found out that it was true. He never told me. Even when I asked him, he said it was impossible. Such was the height of treachery.

“Don’t forget that beyond speakership, there were about seven to eight of us that started the Tambuwal project for president, and came very close to clinching the ticket. We supported him fully. We met every night till 2, 3, 4 in the morning.”

The Speaker also accused Tambuwal of stopping his move to becoming House leader after being defeated by Dogara.

He noted that when it was time to run for speaker again, former governor of Zamfara State, Yari and Tambuwal reached out to him to drop his deputy, Monguno for Dogara.

Gbajabiamila said he rejected the move as he asked them to meet with Monguno if he would step down for Dogara.