Despite the last-minute frantic efforts by the ruling APC and President Bola Tinubu to persuade Senators-elect to vote for the preferred candidates of the party for the Senate presidency, there are strong indications that the camp of Godswill Akpabio is unsettled and has been perturbed by the voting system at the Senate.
This comes as other aspirants and candidates from the APC, particularly Senators Orji Uzor Kalu and Abdulaziz Yari, whose campaigns have gathered momentum, have vehemently refused to withdraw from the race and back the party’s anointed candidates.
MUK TV, therefore, learned that Akpabio’s camp has become uncomfortable with the Senate’s standing rule that stipulates secret voting, which makes it impossible for the party’s leaders to monitor and influence the outcome of the in-house election.
Though high-ranking APC chieftains, including members of the National Working Committee (NWC) and state governors, could be present at the decisive plenary on June 13th, the secret ballot system would make it difficult for them to influence the voting.
The Senate rule clearly states that “when two or more senators-elect are nominated and seconded as Senate President, the election shall be conducted by electronic voting or voting by secret ballot, which shall be conducted by the Clerks-at-Table using the list of the senators-elect of the Senate, who shall each be given a ballot paper to cast his vote, with the proposers and seconders as Tellers.”
Furthermore, the standing rule also states that “The Clerk of the Senate shall submit the result of the voting to the Clerk of the National Assembly, who shall then declare the Senator-elect who has received the highest number of votes as Senate President-elect. (i) When more than two Senators-elect are nominated and seconded to be Senate President, the division shall be conducted in the manner prescribed in Order 3(3)(e) (ii) herein, and the Senator-elect who has received the highest number of votes shall be declared the Senate President-elect.
“In the event of two or more Senators-elect receiving the highest but equal number of votes, the name of the candidate having the smallest number of votes shall be excluded from subsequent divisions, and a further division shall take place. This voting shall continue until one candidate receives a simple majority of the votes of the senators-elect. Such a person will then be declared Senate President-elect.”
Recall that earlier this week, former lawmaker Senator Shehu Sani warned the APC’s preferred candidate, Senator Akpabio, on the danger of the secret ballot, saying, “I do not doubt that from now to Monday if there is no serious consultation, appeasement, and horse-trading, one thing I know very well is that if the APC goes to the floor without putting its house in order, the 2015 scenario will reenact itself, especially if there is a secret ballot.”
