Senate presidency: Senators set for showdown over voting method

Senate presidency: Senators set for showdown over voting method

- Senators-elect are divided over what method of voting to be adopted during the election of presiding officers for the 9th Assembly

- Supporters of Ahmad Lawan (APC, Yobe) want the open ballot system, while those who oppose the system said secret ballot is the best option

- The 2015 Senate rule book actually supports the secret ballot system since it was first used for the 7th National Assembly

Senators-elect of the 9th National Assembly are set for a real struggle during their inauguration over the kind of voting to use for electing presiding officers in the upper chamber.

Daily Trust reports that the senators-elects have divided themselves among political preference for their candidates for the presidency and vice presidency.

While supporters of Senate leader, Ahmad Lawan of the All Progressives Congress (APC) from Yobe, are solidly for the open ballot system, those supporting Mohammed Ali Ndume (APC, Borno) and Mohammed Danjuma Goje (APC, Gombe) want secret ballot.

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It was gathered that the 2015 Senate Order supports the secret ballot as the sole means of electing the people for the highest positions in the Senate.

The 2015 rule book sometime ago was a subject of contention following allegation that the secret ballot system was just unlawfully inserted as there was reportedly no time for the 7th Senate to do things properly.

Those supporting Lawan are saying they do not want to abide by the 2015 Order anymore as there were reports that the National Assembly management already distributed the 2015 rules book to senators-elects, as material to be used for their inauguration.

The senator representing Kano South, Kabiru Gaya, who is also a contender for the office of deputy Senate president, said the 2015 rules would be the one to be used since it had not been amended.

A senator supporting Lawan said open ballot system is the standard practice in parliament around the whole world and it is what the Senate will adopt.

"We shouldn’t be afraid of what we’re going to vote for as elderly people. Besides, the 2015 Senate rules book they’re talking about was forged. There was never a time that the 7th Senate amended it to reflect secret ballot,” he said.

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Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that as the battle for the National Assembly leadership heats up, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is reportedly making moves to influence the outcome of the Senate election.

It was reported that the three contenders for the Senate presidency - Senate leader Ahmad Lawan, chairman of the Senate committee on appropriations Danjuma Goje and the former Senate leader Ali Ndume, have been strategising.

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Source: Legit.ng

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