Tambuwal steps aside Speaker, Ihedioha takes over

Speaker of the House of Representatives, who is now governor-elect for Sokoto State, Aminu Tambuwal, on Tuesday bowed out of the legislature and handed over the leadership to his deputy, Mr. Emeka Ihedioha, who will round off the tenure of the House on June 5.

Tambuwal is to be inaugurated on May 29 as governor, but his current tenure as a member of the House will end on June 6.

His decision to transfer power to Ihedioha ahead of the May 29 handover date was to avoid a possible constitutional crisis of taking oath of office for two separate offices.

Tambuwal, who spoke with journalists soon after Tuesday’s sitting of the House, disclosed that the members agreed at an executive session that Ihedioha should preside over the affairs of the House till June 6.

“My stay here in the House would have effectively come to an end on May 29 after I would have been inaugurated as governor.

“We have to avoid any possible issues on this, since the constitution is silent on what happens when a sitting Speaker has to move to another office,” he added.

Meanwhile, one of the contestants for the speakership of the 8th Assembly, Mr. Mohammed Monguno, on Tuesday voluntarily withdrew from the race.

Monguno, who is from Borno State, said that he was stepping down to back the candidature of House Minority Leader, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila, one of the frontline contenders.

Monguno added that he would instead join Gbajabiamila for the position of deputy speaker.

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