TheCable

Speaker of the house of representatives, Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, has launched a quiet bid for the presidential race and is due to meet former President Olusegun Obasanjo in Abeokuta, Ogun State, on Tuesday evening.

TheCable can report that the secret meeting is part of his mobilisation and consultation efforts for the 2015 presidential election.

Although he is a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), he is expected to seek the ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC) which he has always identified with.

“You can say that Tambuwal has effectively joined the presidential race, although he cannot make an announcement until INEC blows the kick-off whistle,” a member of the house of representatives, who is a close political associate of the speaker, told TheCable.

The source said Tambuwal “will definitely defect to APC” in a short while.

His defection will present a complex scenario in the house as PDP currently has the majority of members.

The source refused to disclose if Tambuwal will step down as speaker if he defects to APC.

Recently, posters appeared on major streets of Abuja purporting to campaign for Tambuwal for president, with the deputy speaker, Hon. Emeka Ihedioha, being the running mate.

Tambuwal’s spokesman, Malam Imam Imam, thereafter issued a statement dissociating the speaker from the posters but he did not rule out the possibility of his principal joining the race.

TheCable also reported recently that there was pressure on the speaker to run for governorship in Sokoto State because of some other political calculations in APC.

At the time of writing, Imam could not be reached for comments on the Abeokuta meeting.

Tambuwal has enjoyed tremendous support from the south-west flank of APC, which played a key role in his election as speaker in 2011.