Position of Speaker not determined by party majority – NBA

The Chairman of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), Enugu State Branch, Chief CNN Nwagbara, has said that selection of speaker or Senate president is not determined by party majority.

Nwagbara made the disclosure in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Enugu on Tuesday.

The chairman said that the members-elect had the sole right to choose their leader through indirect election within themselves in line with section 92 of the 1999 constitution.

According to him, it is applicable to the state House of Assembly, House of Representatives and the Senate.

Nwagbara said that the choice of who became the speaker was not determined by party majority.

“Sen. Ike EKweremadu was elected as the deputy Senate president in 2015 while his party, the Peoples Democratic Party was minority in the Senate then.

“In Enugu state house of assembly, for instance, where Labour Party won 14 seats out of 24 seats, members-elect can choose any person to become the speaker being it a first, second, third or even Fourth timer.

“It is immaterial which party the person comes from, because the provision of the law did not say it must come from the party who has majority of the members elect.

“It is a rule adopted by members of a particular Chamber for administrative convenience and to help them foster effective administration,” he said.

Nwagbara, however, said that the essence of adopting the rules of ranking in office was because of experience as it was expected that people who had served for longer period would have more experience than the new ones.