Speakership: We are unbothered over adoption of open ballot voting - ‘G7’ member

Rep. Yusuf Gagdi (APC-Plateau), a member of the ‘G-7," says his group remains unruffled in spite of a change in House rules that now allows open ballot voting.

Gagdi, the Chairman of the House Committee on Navy, said this while speaking with newsmen on various issues ahead of the June 5 inauguration of the 10th National Assembly in Abuja.

This is coming against the backdrop of recent agitation over a plot to doctor the House of Representatives Standing Order 10th Edition, which adopts open ballot voting.

This was allegedly aimed at compelling members-elect to openly declare the names of their nominees during the election of the presiding officers.

The lawmaker said that in whatever manner the election was going to take, the G-7 were not bothered or scared, adding that such a move had disadvantages and advantages for both parties.

The G7 is a group of aspirants for the 10th National Assembly speaker, opposed to the consensus candidate the APC chose.

Members of the group are Reps. Ahmed Wase, Alhassan Ado-Doguwa, Sada Soli, Sani Jaji, Miriam Onuhoa, Aliyu Betara, and Gagdi.

Gagdi said what would befall the fate of opposition parties that conspired against their own party’s directive to vote for the ruling party's adopted candidate might not be savory.

”Look at the composition of the house; the opposition has 182 put together, while the ruling APC has 178. In the circumstances, we do not have the comfortable majority we have as the ruling party.

“You think the 182 will not be scared of their governors and leaders, who already gave them instructions regarding who becomes the speaker?” he queried.

He said the consequences of the open ballot would affect all groups, adding that with this, the G-7 would be good to go in whatever way the House wanted to approach the election.

NAN reports that the rules, referred to as the 10th edition, have a new provision for electing the Speaker and Deputy through an open ballot instead of the existing rule of a secret ballotthat has been in use since 1999.

Section 2 (f) (iii) of the controversial clause reads this: “election of presiding officers." ”Every member voting shall name clearly and in the open the candidate of his choice.”

Meanwhile, a former Clerk of the House of Representatives, Mr. Gani Ojagbohunmi, has confirmed that voting during the election of the two presiding officers of the Senate and House of Representatives was usually done by secret ballot.

Ojagbohunmi stated this during the presentation of a paper titled ‘Opening of a New Parliament: The Case of the National Assembly" at the induction of new members-elect.

“Voting is usually by secret ballot. After the results have been collated, they are handed over to the clerk of that house, who shall submit the result of the division to the clerk of the National Assembly (CNA).

He said the CNA shall then declare the member-elect with the majority of votes duly elected the presiding officer.