APC may withdraw support for Tambuwal •Over defections in the House of Reps

Leaders of the All Progressive Congress (APC) are said to be increasingly worried about the stance of Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, on the alleged “promise” he made to defect to the party.

Tambuwal had said in a recent interview in Lagos that he would make his stance on defection and 2015 known in due course and at God's appointed time but it was gathered that leaders of the APC were worried at the non-fulfillment of the “promise.”

The party is said to be getting increasingly agitated over the delay by Tambuwal to fulfill the said “promise”.

At a recent meeting in Lagos held to review the Tambuwal issue, sources close to the party said that “Tambuwal's non-defection as promised is troubling. We were expecting a minimum of 20 members of the House to move over with him. Even when we thought that figure was bogus and flattering, we even lost five (members of the House) to the PDP..Many more members may go if we don't arrest the situation immediately.”

It was gathered that the leadership of the APC which sometimes ago described Tambuwal as a “pillar of support” at a secret meeting is already considering withdrawing its support for the Speaker.

But the Speaker”s office refrained from responding to the issue of promise on Saturday, as the Special Adviser on Media to the Speaker, Mallam Imam Imam, said that the matter was in the realm of speculation and that the office would not respond to speculations.

“This matter you raised is in the realm of speculation and you know as a rule that we don't comment on such matters,” he said.

It was further gathered that leaders of the party have come to a conclusion that the alarm raised by the APC over alleged bribe said to have been paid to lure members of the APC back to the PDP was wrongly handled.

A source said that besides exposing the party to anger among the Reps, it has also exposed the party to the possibility of credibility problems if the Reps demand a proof.

The source said: “The announcement that PDP bribed members to defect was tactically wrong to have been made by the party's spokesman, Lai Mohammed instead of Femi Gbajabiamila, who is their leader in the House. Femi should have been the person to address a press conference to tell Nigerians about that.”

It was also gathered that wittier by the level of defection in the House of Representatives, leaders of the APC have directed the Imo State governor, Chief Rochas Okorocha to hold a meeting with his colleagues in the Progressives Governors' Forum to find ways to stop the defection from APC.

“Again, Governor Rochas Okoroacha has been directed to call a meeting of the Progressive Governors' Forum to find a way of halting these detections. It's worst with legislators who know they're not coming back to the House because of the zoning policy in their areas.”