Former Senate President, Chief Adolphus Wabara has lent his voice to those calling for the resignation of Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, saying that a minority cannot rule over the majority.
Wabara, who stepped down his position as Senate President on April 5, 2005 to clear his name over his alleged involvement in the N55 million bribe for budget scandal, also expressed confidence in the ability of President Jonathan to win a second term convincingly.
He spoke in an exclusive interview with The Vanguard.
He said: “With the speaker of the House of Representatives now defecting to the opposition, to me, I think he should resign his Speakership because, clearly, according to our rules and our laws, it is the party with the majority membership of the House that runs chambers.
“If he now sits down and finds that his APC is in the minority, he should just resign. Since what he wants is to be the governor of Sokoto State, then he goes there to face that. Immediately, the PDP will elect another Speaker. He should not overheat the polity. He is a gentleman that is loved by many”, he said.
Wabara counselled the Speaker not to allow his political career to be impaired just because he wants to cling to power by all means.
“I also love him, no matter that he has left my party. He is a good fighter, but he should not mess up his good name by clinging to power unnecessarily. Otherwise, if he gets impeached, he will probably not even make the governorship anymore because it will tarnish his image. If he allows himself to be impeached, then he cannot even run for the governorship of Sokoto State. So, he should just resign and wish Nigerians well.
Explaining the reason his party, Peoples Democratic Party, PDP endorsed President Jonathan as its sole candidate, Wabara said the party, out of appreciation for the good works of the president, felt he should be their sole candidate.
“The PDP is the greatest party on the African continent. I don’t see anything wrong in adopting a candidate. It was only mentioned that he’s being adopted as a sole candidate. But every other person democratically has the right to contest.
“It is not sacrosanct; just that at that moment in time, because of the good job the President has been doing, it was necessary to say please continue, we endorse you as the sole candidate. But that does not say no other person can pick a form”.
On the chances of President Jonathan in the 2015 presidential election, Wabara the president will win.
“The PDP will win. Jonathan will win. He will win because I know the opposition. I’m not a prophet, but I can assure you that as soon as a candidate emerges from the opposition, the opposition will collapse from that particular moment.
“The PDP should not lose sleep; the PDP should continue to prepare their agenda, their manifesto and what they want to do for Nigeria and Nigerians this time around.
“They should build on what they have done so far and not lose their sleep on the opposition. In fact, we have other parties now joining the PDP. These are parties that ordinarily would have joined hands with APC, but they are coming into PDP. That means there is something we are doing right. It’s a phase and it will take some time before we will get there”, he said.
On the achievement of Mr. President, Senator Wabara said there is no doubt that the president has done very well. “There is absolutely no doubt about that. I am 66 years old and I think I have seen so many birthdays and so many years; I’ve seen so many governments in Nigeria. When he presented his book, his scorecard on May 29, he gave facts and you can see the record of his performance. Just go and read that book. Nobody puts pen on paper if he or she is not sure of what he is writing. You cannot say he has done everything, but at least you will see the trend where we are going, where he started from and what we have achieved now”.
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