The National Assembly turned a new page yesterday with the election of Godswill Obot Akpabio (Akwa Ibom Northwest) as President of the Senate and Tajudeen Abbas (Zaria Federal Constituency, Kaduna State) as Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Many Nigerians woke up to a live telecast of the election process on the floor of the two chambers as early as 8:00 am against the expected 10:00 am commencement time.
It was learnt that the time change was communicated to the lawmakers by the National Assembly bureaucracy but was unknown to many Nigerians.
Akpabio, who was nominated by Senator Ali Ndume (Borno South) and seconded by Senator Adeola Olamilekan (Ogun West) got 63 votes to Senator Abdulaziz Yari’s 46. All 109 senators were present.
Following the collapse of last-minute efforts to agree on a consensus around Akpabio, Yari (Zamfara West), contrary to the All Progressives Congress (APC) zoning arrangement, was nominated by Senator Elisha Aboh (Adamawa South) and seconded by Senator Jimoh Ibrahim (Ondo South), two APC senators.
