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Tag: Kabiru Gaya

  • Why Senate President, Speaker’ll emerge by secret ballot, by Gaya

    The President of the Senate, Speaker of the House of Representatives and their deputies in the ninth National Assembly, may be elected through secret ballot.

    Senator Kabiru Gaya (APC Kano South), who dropped the hint in Abuja Thursday, said the 2015 Standing Rule used in electing the present four occupants of the positions remained valid.

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

    Gaya, who spoke with journalists shortly after the plenary session, 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.

    The lawmaker’s position was in response to calls for the open ballot system, by some interest groups within and outside the National Assembly.

    Read Also: Nobody can impose Senate President, says Ndume

    But Gaya stressed that the 2015 Senate Rule remained the only valid document for the purpose of electing the principal officers.

    He however said a member in the Senate could move a motion for the amendment of the existing rule before the expiration of the life of the present Assembly and that the procedure must follow due process.

    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 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.

  • Kabiru Gaya joins race for Deputy Senate President

    Senator Kabiru Gaya has joined the race for Deputy Senate President ahead of the inauguration of the Ninth Senate in June.

    Gaya, who represents Kano South senatorial district, is a member of the governing All Progressives Congress (APC).

    A former Kano governor in the truncated Third Republic, Gaya is spending a third term in the Senate, having been first elected into the Senate in 2007.

    Gaya’s declaration is coming against the decision of the leadership of the APC to zone the position to the South South geopolitical zone. The senator is from the North West zone.

    Addressing journalists in his office on Thursday, Gaya said he was not aware that the leadership of his party had zoned the position to the South South geopolitical zone.

    Justifying his aspiration for the position, Gaya pointed out that the Speaker has been zoned to the Southwest where Vice President Yemi Osinbajo also hailed from.

    According to him, there is nothing wrong in having the Deputy Senate President from the Northwest where President Muhammadu Buhari also hailed from.

    Gaya said, “The general analysis of the Nigerian political power equation indicates that there is need for the North East to produce the Senate President; South West, Speaker of the House of Representatives; North West, Deputy Senate President; North Central, Deputy Speaker; while Senate Majority Leader and House Majority Leader and House Majority Leader shall go to the South East and the South South”.

    He maintained that leadership positions in the National Assembly should be based on ranking and experience of lawmakers aspiring for such positions.

    Senator Gaya said the position of Deputy Senate President and that of the Deputy Speaker ought to be open to qualified aspirants, regardless of the geopolitical zones they hailed from.

    The Kano lawmaker, who is presently the chairman of the Senate Committee on Works, however clarified that he was still consulting with critical stakeholders, including the APC and his fellow senators.

    Describing himself as a loyal party member, Gaya however said he would not go against a decision of the party to zone the position to a different geopolitical zone.

    “I don’t disobey my party leadership. What I am saying is that I am the most ranking and most qualified for the job”, he said.

  • ‘We’ll probe INEC over polls shift’

    Senator Kabiru Gaya at the weekend  disclosed that the National Assembly would investigate the one week postponement of the 2019 general elections.

    Few hours to the commencement of the Presidential and National Assembly elections the 16th of last month, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had postponed the elections and governorship and state’s houses of Assembly by one week.

    Gaya, who spoke with State House correspondents, disclosed why Kano people voted for President Muhammadu Buhari, even though the turnout for the elections was low.

    According to him, the next Senate will work with President Buhari in the interest of the nation.

    On postponement of the elections, he said “I was happy at the day one when they shifted the elections and I said still after shifting the election we will call them and we will investigate the INEC for shifting the election because it caused a poor  turnout. We will find out the reason – if it is funding, we gave them enough funding, if it was issue of security, the security agencies were ready.

    “So why should INEC shift the elections? We are going to investigate that when we come back after the governorship election. But sadly, generally they did what they could do, I could say, it’s a pass mark.” he said

    Asked the kind of Senate Nigerians should expect in the ninth Assembly, Senator Gaya said “A humble Senate, a vibrant senate and a Senate that will work with Mr President.”

    Read Also: INEC plans supplementary elections

    Gaya also thanked almighty Allah for the President’s life, strength and ability to contest for a second term and win the election with a very good wide margin.

    On why Kano people voted for Buhari, he said “I remember, when I was inspecting one of the roads in Nigeria here, at that time, President Buhari was abroad, I said President Buhari will, insha Allah, commission that road in his first time and also in second term, he will do the second part of the road. People doubted me, but thank God, God has done it – President Buhari has ran for election and he has won the election.

    “I am not surprise for him winning the election because he has done so much for this country. Take example, in terms of road, I am the Chairman, Senate Committee on Works, so I know that the budget for the 2014 before President Buhari came in was N22 billion. But when Buhari came into office the budget moved up to N220 billion and you can see now the budget is between N300 billion to N400 billion in 2019.

    “Therefore, the roads that were neglected for nineteen years are now motorable. Also, agricultural, the importation of rice has dropped from 100 percent to only five percent.

    “So I could say that I am happy President Buhari is back and the election was peaceful and Kano State has delivered even though the turnout was very low. I believe most of the problem was that INEC shifted the elections and people thought that the election would be shifted again and they couldn’t come out to vote. We had just about 30-40 percent turnout all over the country.

    “But be that, Kano has delivered, we had the highest number of votes and I think we could say that we are part of the determining factors for President Muhammadu Buhari reelection because he has really done so much for us – the dualization of Kano-Abuja road and the railway project and so on.

    “We are very happy that president Buhari has done that and we believe we will do better. We from the National Assembly, I assure you, I am coming in as a senator for the forth term – 16 years I am one of the few ranking senators in the senate and I thank God for being in the senate.

    “Therefore, we will give President Buhari all the cooperation that is needed so that we can have a smooth ride, a smooth process, a smooth passage of the budget, a smooth oversight and a relation between the executive and the legislature. We hope by God’s grace we will give him that support.” he said

  • Shekarau, Gaya, Jibril win Kano senatorial seats

    Senator Kabiru Gaya has emerged as the flag bearer of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Kano South Senatorial District, with over 1 million votes in the Direct primary election, held across the District, on Wednesday.

    Announcing the results, the Returning officer, Professor Balarabe Abubakar Jakada, said Senator Kabiru Gaya scored 1,35,57 votes  to defeat President Muhammadu Buhari’s Special Adviser Kawu Sumaila, who garnered 309,209 votes.

    ”I Professor Balarabe Abubakar Jarkada, the Presiding officer of the APC Senatorial Primaries at Kano South Senatorial District, hereby certify that elections were held in all the 16 Local Government Areas of the District. Kabiru Ibrahim Gaya, having obtained the highest number of votes is hereby declared winner of the Senatorial Primaries.”

    Read Also: Kano PDP rejects governorship primary election

    The third aspirant Senator Isa Zarewa, also scored also scored 15,643 votes.

    Also, in Kano Central, former Kano State Governor, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau, clinched the Senatorial ticket, with 973,485 votes, defeating Suleiman Halilu, who scored 104 votes and Laila Buhari, who scored 206 votes.

    It was gathered that Senator Bashir Garba Lado stepped down to pave way for Malam Shekarau’s victory.

    In Kano North, the sitting Senator, Barau Jibril has his returning ticket back, as his major opponent and former Deputy Governor of the State, Alhaji Tijjani Abdullahi Gwarzo, stepped down for him.

  • ‘Why Kano won’t support Kwankwaso against Buhari’

    Former Kano State Governor Kabiru Gaya has said Rabiu Kwankwaso will not get the people’s support to unseat President Muhammadu Buhari.

    Gaya, who represents Kano South in the Senate, told reporters the people would deliver about three million votes for President Buhari. According to him, voting out Buhari in 2019 will be taking the country back.

    He said: “I am not Chinua Achebe, but I can play some mathematics in this. With four governors, one serving and three ex-governors, with a three-time senator Gaya on the other side, you will find out that the equation is not balanced and would tilt more to where you have three former governors.

    “So we all need him to come and support Buhari. We initially supported Kwankwaso when he contested the last time. It will take two years to understand the politics of that office before you start thinking of doing anything.

    Maybe the smartest one will need one and half years to understand the office. Then you work for another one and half years, making it three years, and spend the remaining one year politicking to return back. I mean you only get two of the four years.

    “But if you elect President Buhari for a second term, it means the country or the state will now benefit from the full four years, because he will not think about any re-election. I am always an advocate for two terms for everyone.

    “President Buhari is doing well and the only support he needs is a second term…”

  • Zamfara has spent over N57bn on Federal roads – Nalado

    Zamfara has spent over N57bn on Federal roads – Nalado

    The Zamfara Government on Thursday said it had spent N57.3 billion on the reconstruction of 600 Kilometers of roads belonging to the Federal Government in the state.

    The state Commissioner for Works, Alhaji Mu’azu Nalado, told newsmen in Gusau shortly after the Senate Committee on Works, led by Sen. Kabiru Gaya, visited the state for an oversight function.

    Nalado said that the committee during the visit inspected some of the roads reconstructed by the Zamfara state government.

    He said the state government had already submitted the reports containing all the names, locations and total length of the roads and money spent on each.

    According to the commissioner, there are still areas of contention over the ownership of some of the roads reconstructed by the state.

    He told the committee that the Federal Ministry of Works had indicated that any road not gazetted and without route number would not be considered as federal government road.

    “But we at the state government level have considered all the reconstructed roads as federal government roads because they are all federal government roads.

    “We have already presented this issue to the senate committee and they promised to look into the matter and resolve it amicably,’’ the commissioner said.

    Nalado said the state government had also spent about N200 million for emergency repairs of washed away sections of Gusau-Sokoto and Kaura-Shinkafi-Sabonbirni Highways owned by the federal government.

    He said the state government had spent N20 billion for the construction of various state owned roads, saying some were completed while others were ongoing.

    “When the present administration in the state under the leadership of Alhaji Abdul’aziz Yari came into power in 2011, almost all the roads in the state both federal and state government owned were dilapidated.

    “Therefore, we have no option than to embark on road construction to address one of the major problems affecting our people,” he said.

    The commissioner listed the reconstructed federal roads as Sokoto-border-Dakitakwas-Kebbi border, Dakitakwas-Mayanchi junction, Gusau-Kasuwar Daji and Kauran Namoda-Gidan Jaja roads.

    He said that the other road was the Wanke-Keta-Danjibga- Bilbis-Kucheri, inaugurated by President Muhammad Buhari in 2016.

    “We also have Talata-Mafara-Rini-Faru-Jambako-Gora-Boko-Lambar Book road which was completed in 2013 and also inaugurated by President Muhammad Buhari when he was a presidential candidate.”

    NAN

  • Sen. Gaya calls for patience with Buhari

    Sen. Gaya calls for patience with Buhari

    The Chairman, Senate Committee on Works, Sen. Kabiru Gaya, has urged Nigerians to be patient with the present administration as it works towards entrenching good governance.

    He made the call while speaking with newsmen on the sidelines of the 137th Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Assembly on Sunday at St. Petersburg, Russia.

    Gaya, who is the Vice President of the IPU, Africa, urged Nigerians to engage in constructive criticism of government policies rather than castigating the leadership.

    While admitting that Nigerians had a right to hold their leaders accountable, he said it was imperative to do so with caution.

    “Nigerians need to be patient with our leaders.

    “When you have a leader, you pray hard for them because if you keep on castigating your leader, you will only end up frustrating them or hurrying to take bad decisions.

    “So, I urge Nigerians to support the present government and President Muhammadu Buhari, make constructive criticisms and offer advice on the way forward,” he said.

    On the theme of the 137th IPU, “Promoting Cultural Pluralism and Peace through Inter-Faith and Inter-Ethnic Dialogue’’, Gaya said it was apt in view of increasing level of conflicts around the world.

    He said that there could not have been a better time when people were resorting to violence in expressing their grievances.

    He said that Nigeria was not insulated from the trend as there were increasing agitations in different sections of the country.

    The parliamentarian, however, called for dialogue across board.

    “Generally, in any governance in a country where there are crisis or people are oppressed, dialogue is the easiest and best solution.

    “This is because unless people open up and express their grievances, there may be no solution and violence is never the answer to any problem.

    “Whatever peace cannot give, violence will not give. So it is better to discuss with the people and come up with solutions.

    “That is why in Nigeria’s government, most of the time falls back to dialogue.

    “For instance, the Biafra and Niger Delta issues were partially resolved on dialogue.

    “It is only the issue of Boko Haram that we were not able to resolve with dialogue and you can see the casualty figure,’’ he said.

    The chairman commended the Buhari-led government for its effort in keeping the country one in spite of the daunting challenges.

    On causes of agitations, the lawmaker said that there was a need to do more to carry every section of the country along.

    He said; “the issue of marginalization, for instance, is not peculiar to any section of the country but we in the National Assembly will continue to champion the course of dialogue.

    “This 137th IPU assembly is timely as those of us who are able to attend will carry home the language of dialogue.

    “On restructuring, particularly the issue of devolution of power, during the Constitution review, we looked at areas that are less controversial and we agreed on them.

    “We in the parliament are prepared for restructuring but let us first understand ourselves.

    “If the issue of devolution of power comes up again, we will open up and speak with the interest of Nigerians at heart.’’

    Gaya said that more needed to be done to get every region to be on the same page before proceeding with the process.

    According to him, times have changed and it will take continuous dialogue to get everybody on the same page.

    “Nigeria was united under only three regions; people were not complaining at that time. Our leaders were honest and dedicated.

    “Nigerians were committed to being Nigerians but these days, it is different. However, we are prepared for dialogue,’’ he said.

    NAN

  • Senate queries payment of mobilisation fees for unexecuted contracts

    The Senate Committee on Works on Wednesday queried the Federal Ministry of Works for paying mobilisation fee of N4 billion to contractors for 11 major highway projects across the country even though the jobs were not executed.

    The Chairman of the Committee, Senator Kabiru Gaya, told officials of the ministry, led by the Minister, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, who came to defend the ministry’s 2016 budget that the payment would not go unchallenged.

    The committee consequently demanded for details of the contracts which were awarded in 2015 and the status of the projects till date.

    Senator Gaya said, “11 contractors have collected mobilisation fees and there is zero implementation, some collected N500million and one of the contractors collected N1billion.

    “For instance in the case of dualisation of Otukpo (Benue State) township road, N1billion was paid to the contractors. Minister you need to check that and give us details in the next meeting.

    “There is no point giving a contractor mobilisation fee when he cannot perform,”

    The committee directed the minister to ensure that works on some of the roads are done this year, stressing the fact that some of the roads are links to some major cities.

    Some road projects identified by the committee for immediate fixing are Lokoja-Okene, Oyo-Ogbomosho, Enugu – Port Harcourt, Kano – Maiduguri, Lokoja-Benin and the Apapa – Oworonshoki among others.