Akpabio Defeats Yari, Elected Senate President

Former Governor of Akwa-ibom State, Senator Godswill Akpabio has been elected the President of the 10th National Assembly.

He defeated Senator Abdul’aziz Yari to emerge the new Senate President on Tuesday.

The former Akwa Ibom governor was returned elected as President of the 10th Senate after scoring 63 votes defeating Senator Yari who scored 46 votes.

Akpabio becomes the first South-Southerner to be elected President of the Senate since Nigeria got its independence in 1960.

Senator Akpabio was subsequently sworn in as the President of the Senate for the 10th National Assembly, succeeding Senator Ahmad Lawan, who is also a member of the 10th Senate.

Meanwhile, Senator Jibrin Barau, who represents Kano North Senatorial District, emerged unopposed as Senate Deputy President, succeeding Ovie Omo-Agege.

Earlier, voting commenced at the Red Chamber in Abuja, Nigeria.
Voting begun at exactly 08:45am on Tuesday on a state by state basis, alphabetically.

Nominations were received for Senator Yari and Senator Akpabio after which the Clerk of the Senate declared nominations closed in absence of further nominations.

The contest was between Yari, a former governor of Zamfara State and Akpabio, a former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs and ex-governor of Akwa Ibom State.

Akpabio and Yari are top-ranking chieftains of the All Progressives Congress (APC). The former Zamfara governor had before now protested the endorsement of the the former minister by the party and asked that the endorsement be reviewed but the APC did not shift ground.

The party also anointed Barau Jibrin from the North-West for the office of the Deputy Senate President.

Scores of APC Senators in Yari’s camp had also rejected the party’s position and called for a review of the formula, arguing that the North-West gave the President the highest vote and therefore deserves to be compensated.

Some APC members had entreated Yari to drop his ambition to make it a smooth sail for Akpabio but the former governor vowed to fight to the finish.

In the just-concluded elections, the ruling APC secured about 70 seats in the Red Chamber, the highest by any party followed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the Labour Party (LP) and the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP).

Many APC lawmakers had indicated interest to emerge the next Senate President but some of the aspirants stepped down for either Akpabio or Yari.