For defying its order and rejecting its anointed candidate for Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is plotting to "deal decisively" with the new Speaker, Aminu Tambuwal, and other party members believed to have voted against Mulikat Adeola-Akande in Monday's election.
A member of the party's National Working Committee, who did not want to be identified because he was not authorized to speak on the matter, said the leadership of the party was working on the appropriate punishment for Tambuwal and the other members who have by their action derailed the party's zoning policy.
He said the party might take such actions as ostracizing Tambuwal from the top hierarchy of the party, shutting him out of its major decision making processes, and refusing to intervene on his behalf if he ran into trouble with his colleagues at anytime.
The official said the errant members would have been suspended from the party "for anti-party conduct," but for their large number.
"We are still smarting from our loss in some states," the source told SaharaReporters. "So if we put that large number of disobedient members on suspension, it might destabilize our party the more. But one thing is sure: we will teach them a bitter lesson in party discipline. We will let them know that the party is supreme. A lot of them will come back to us in four years for return tickets. That is when we will take our pound of flesh. They will definitely not go unpunished
But speaking on SilverBird Television this morning, Lagos-based lawyer, Charles Musa, said it would been inappropriate for the ruling party to move against members who did not vote according to its dictates.
"What will they say their offence is?” Musa asked. "By punishing members who voted according to their conscience, the PDP will be telling the world that it was desperate to foist a leadership on the House. I don't think the party will like to create that kind of impression."
Tambuwal, a lawmaker from Sokoto State in Nigeria's Northwest, emerged the Speaker of the House by polling 252 votes to defeat , Adeola-Akande from Oyo State, who garnered 90 votes.
Tambuwal's election has shattered the zoning arrangement of the ruling PDP, which had ceded the speakership position to the Southwest geopolitical zone. The party is now in a dilemma over how to compensate the Southwest zone for the loss