Ahmad Lawan of All Progrssive Congress, APC — Yobe North has been elected as the new Senate President for the newly inaugurated 9th National Assembly. He was backed by the president and Danjuma Goje – who was his running mate till he stepped down for him.
Senator Ali Ndume from APC – Borno South had gone up against Lawan despite the fact that he had been asked to drop out of the race by his party. He refused to drop out of the race and was endorsed by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) only hours to the votes. The endorsement and support he got, however, did not seem to help as he still lost to the new Senate President.
The election was conducted as a closed ballot election before the swearing in of 107 senators-elect in the upper legislative chamber. Yahaya Abdullahi from APC- Kebbi North moved the motion to nominate Ahmad Lawan and the motion was seconded by Adeola Solomon from APC – Lagos West.
On the other hand, Ndume was nominated by Ishaku Abo from PDP – Adamawa North and the motion was seconded by Mpigi Barry from PDP -Rivers South-East.
Lawan got a landslide victory against Ndume with 79 votes to Ndume’s 28 votes after all 107 senators present voted. He was promptly sworn in by the Clerk of the National Assembly, Mohammed Sani-Omolori.
Ahmad Lawan first became a senator in 2007 and acted as the chairman of the Senate Committee on Public Accounts in 2009. The Senate President who is now 60 years old first had a short stint in the House of Representatives before he ran for Senate and has won re-election three times. He ran for Senate President in 2015 but after losing to Bukola Saraki, he became Senate leader.