National Assembly Leaders Will Emerge By Secret Ballot – Gaya

Presiding officers of the 9th National Assembly may be elected through a secret ballot, Senator Kabiru Gaya (APC-Kano South) has hinted.

The lawmaker was reacting to calls for the open ballot system, by some interest groups within and outside the National Assembly.

Open ballot system was used in electing the officers in the Seventh Assembly in 2011.

Speaking to newsmen after plenary session on Thursday, Gaya stated that the 2015 Standing Rule used in electing the present four occupants of the positions remained valid.

He said there is little time for the lawmakers in the two chambers to scale through the procedures needed to effect a change in the rule.

Gaya said, “I am a member of the National Assembly. And we were able to do these rules together. We cannot change it now unless a member of the Senate moves for that change.

“If he moves for the change and somebody seconds it, the motion will be debated and the same thing goes for the House of Representatives.

“If there is a discrepancy between the Senate and the House, we will set up a Conference Committee. And they will bring it to us to find a date to sit down and pass it. Can you do that in one month?”

Gaya, who is aspiring to be Deputy President of the Senate, said his aspiration is based on the fact that the Northwest zone where he comes from, recorded the highest votes for the governing APC.

He also stated that with 21 senators and about six million votes for the APC in the last presidential election, the Northwest deserved the position of deputy senate president.