Speaker Tambuwal is a Narcissist
'The defection by the Honorable Aminu Tambuwal, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, is nothing out of blues for those who have carefully observed the course of the canoe Mr speaker has been paddling in the Nigeria political waters from time past. He's lived up to his expertise as a party defector over his years of involvement in politics at the national level. I would not sympathize with the party he left neither would I rejoice with the party he presently belongs because he is in a party for one thing only, power. Once he calculates his stakes in any party and, it turns out not feasible for a higher charting of power, he moves like cat that has just sighted a rat.'
For some months now, the dust in the House of Assembly of our beloved federation has been incessantly raised; making a global showcase of the mannerism of drama in Nigeria's number one political house, Aso Rock. The other day, I switched-on my television to watch the news; I was dismayed all through after, having seen how the supposed able lawmakers of our country have turned the house upside down in front of world camera once more. On getting to the bottom of what it might be this time again, it was the speaker of our House of Assembly who had spearheaded another Oscar winning political short-movie, a blockbuster clip in the box office of Nigeria's 'AsoRock-wood'.
It was amazing to watch some honorable members of our dear federation display their acrobatic skills and notoriety just at the flash a simple security check. In a dash, our leaders brought us on the world map once again for another black reason. Lawmakers of country breaking the law like an arrant truant. The members of our legislative house were busy banging the gate of the Honorable and fortified house like terrorists and intruders, scaling the fence like armed robbers and trespassers, jubilating at their paucity of moral and misplaced political etiquette. Indeed, financial equity can't pay off the loan of moral debt.
Rewinding the tape of our national 'show of shame' at the House of Assembly, we would recall that the last media demonstration we had at this level was recorded in 2010 following a fight that broke out in Nigerian Parliament after 11 legislators were suspended for accusing the House of Representatives Speaker then, Oladimeji Bankole , of corruption. Needless to say, it was tarnishing for the image of our country, having acknowledged that Bankole who took over from Patricia Etteh following a corruption scandal also got smitten by the same rod. . The disgraceful clip involving cameos of many of our major legislators engaging in fist fight and chair-throwing argument credited Nigeria as of 'one of the world's most ' tainted countries'. The stunt had a new release on November 20, 2014 - however, this time with some new cast. Quite interesting.
Diving to the deep of Nigeria political water, it was historically noted that the first time ever Nigeria made their headway into book of political truancy was six years after our independence. It was observed that the political crises materialized into the Nigeria's first military coup in 1996. Accordingly, there were two groups; pro- Obafemi Awolowo and pro Ladoke Akintola in the Western House of Assembly. A fallout from the fist fight between both groups resulted in a state of emergency being declared in the Western region. In corollary, skipping the pages of our political chronicles to this recent decade; a similar pouring of the political rainfall that fell a quarter year ago, during Honorable Bankole's term, showered heavily again a few days ago. This year's episode made a vintage follow-up series into our archive of political woes.
Having laid that foundation, we need not crack our brains to recall that the present Hon. Speaker of the House of Representatives of Nigeria, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal , a lawyer by profession, assumed office in 2011. A gentle man at glance, as his face is always smiley and cheeky- It would be difficult for anyone to detect, from a first impression, that he's a man that usually has something up his skirt and his sleeves. His three years in office has been greeted with excessive 'joker' moves and media headlining.
He monumentally stole the politically spotlight when he defected from the ruling party to APC on 28 October, 2014. His story earned the front page of most newspapers and the Image of news flashes. The move was media buzzing and got the lips of political stakeholders and fellow compatriots moving. It was not until this time that I had to go back to remind myself of the blueprints in his political journey and soon I found out that the move shouldn't be a surprise even to the party he defected from or to. As a lawyer and an ex Deputy Chief Whip of the House of Representatives of Nigeria, one would expect him to be a selfless upholder of the law and that democracy but the reverse has been the case.
From his early bird in the political game as a Personal Assistant on Legislative Affairs to a former senate leader till 2003 when he decided to run for a legislative seat as representative of the Kebbi/Tambuwal Federal Constituency under the platform of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) has been a Froggy move. Consequently, few months to the 2007 general elections, he defected to the Democratic People's Party (DPP) but on denial of return tickets to former ANPP legislators, he swung back to the ANPP in the same year, where he eventually succeeded in picking up a ticket for the election. However, that wasn't the end of his political party prostitution; he dumped the ANPP that gave him a second chance after jilting them and moved to PDP in 2007. 'Unsurprisingly' for those that have study his chess move, he pulled the political trigger again in October, when defect to APC. Well, to what end? Power!
While some political counterparts and non partisan journalist may have seen his defection as treachery, others may not. However, the truth has to fall on one side of the political divide or quadrant. Albeit, his justification as a traitor may be left for the constitution to decide, what is labeled on the head our speaker, yet unseen or unread by my most persons is his narcissist trait. Evidently, the trait has been his driven force in his multiple political party sensational romances and break-ups. In fact, like with ANPP, he had to return to his vomit- his ex party – without any sense of shame because his political party perching habit and ability seem to have no limit.
At this point, it might be necessitated to refresh our minds on who a narcissist is. The most important point to know about narcissism trait is that it a personality disorder. That is, an overlapping pattern of inner experience and behavior that deviates from the norm of the pro-social individualist culture. The common symptoms of the a narcissist disorder includes; contemptuous and lacks empathy, exploitative of others, often envious of others, a very strong sense of entitlement, excessive admiration, preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited power, grandiose sense of self-importance, impulsive, little sense of humor, knaggy and haughty behaviors or attitudes, lack a mature conscience, cruelty and many more. If I may ask, do these symptoms resonate in the character of our speaker? Oh yes, evidently.
Does the speaker's overzealousness and jealousy of others reflect in his very strong sense of entitlement? Does the lack of a mature conscience and impulsive nature show in his frequent party defection? Is the preoccupation with fantasies of unlimited rule pronounced in the speaker's action of wanting to be the president and governor? Does his little sense of humor accounts for unbridled speech making and actions? Does his impossible nature explain his often orchestrated cruelty? Does his political hanky-panky pinpoint his knaggy and haughty behavior? Does his exploitative nature throw some light on why and how he coerced members of his old to defect to the newly joined party as the hatchet leader? Well, this food for thought.
Likewise, it is a noticeable attribute of narcissist to have a weird sense of time. It's more or less like they can't read the times and therefore it appears as if they are act on the spot without giving good thoughts about the consequence of their actions. For instance, within the last three months of his three years as the speaker of the House of Representatives, he had declared a presidential ambition under new party and again quickly made a sharp turn to governorship race having realized his stakes at the presidential circle weren't feasible.
The path being trailed by our honorable speaker is very synonymous to the world acclaimed epic political figure of the narcissist trait, Adolf Hitler. Adolf Hitler rose to a place of prominence in the early years of the Nazi party. He manipulated, coerced and cajoled the other members of the party to conditionally make him leader of the party. He was assisted in part by his willingness to use violence, revolt and decoy in advancing his political objectives and to recruit party members who were willing to do the same. Unfortunately, these are the exact footprints of the speaker and he is backed by the number one antagonist party to the ruling party. Mr. Speaker rather than be a good reference point to the federation by this job would rather take pleasure by been a pain in the ass to the presidency and democracy. Whew!
A word of knowledge; from history, narcissists are not healthy for a sustainable democracy rule because of they are prone to abuse of judicial rights and power misuse. Bearing in mind that times have significantly changed from military rule; instead of the coups and militarization tactics that was known with past form of governance, what we have today is democratic onslaught of political malpractices. That is, the moral debt, unbridle gestures, lost sense of decorum, behavioral decadence, political word exchanged and power haggling by our leaders can be viewed as the democratic idea of a coup. While the military might have been shaken off their feet by Boko Haram Insurgent in a corner of the country, one thing they will never fail to have is sense of order, decorum and comportment which is now the misplaced virtues of most democrats.
A word of caution; a disorder often makes one to lose an ideal the sense order- as such, he or she may get flung out of power with time. Though narcissist have the tendency of been carried away by their egocentric virtues and obsessive nature, they soon become isolated from the game. The self contradictory nature of narcissist is enough to land them in a political or individual hot soup that will be done with time. Regardless of their pretty good reasons for their paranoia and cynicism, their sneakiness, evasiveness, prevarications, narcissists are naive and vulnerable, pathetic really, no matter how arrogant and forceful their words or demeanor. They have a high record of suicidal rate and are reclined to uncontrollably rejection over time.
Conclusively, It goes to say that the speaker can defect back to the ruling party tomorrow and that wouldn't take a miracle to come to fruition. More so, the mafia proverb that says 'a tree that is often transplanted hardly proper' may serve as good remainder for Mr. Speaker because even when the tree appears to prosper, it doesn't last nor become perennial. Thus, if I were the speaker, I would keep my head leveled and humbly retrace footsteps before I self-destruct. I would curb my excesses and embrace the ethics of politics. I would try to redeem myself of all treachery stains and be spotless even in mirror of morality before legality. I would let-go of all aggrandizement and religiously face my assignment as a public servant. I will rather be a compatriot to my federation than a traitor. I would live and lead like a Speaker that truly earned the honor and not because of the tag of the National Assembly. So help me Lord!