Senator Ahmed Lawan representing Yobe North Senatorial District has been elected the new Senate President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Lawan of All Progressives Congress (APC) beat his only challenger, Senator Ali Ndume of Borno State, also of APC, garnering 79 votes as against the 28 votes obtained by Ndume to clinch the exalted seat.
A total of 107 senators voted in the elections, as two members of the 109 senators-elect were absent.
Lawan obtained a degree in Geography in 1984 from University of Maiduguri.
He also has a Master’s Degree in Remote Sensing from the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, in 1990 and a Doctorate degree in Remote Sensing/GIS from Cranfield University, United Kingdom, in 1996.
Shortly after his election, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege equally of the APC, defeated Senator Ike Ekweremadu to emerge as the deputy senate president.
He got 68 votes to Ekweremadu’s 37 to win by simple majority.
Omo-Agege read law at University of Benin, and went on to obtain a Master’s degree from a university in the United States of America.
Ekweremadu, also a lawyer, was the immediate past deputy president of the Senate in the 8th National Assembly, presided over by Senator Bukola Saraki.
The results of these elections have placed the control of the Senate leadership in the hands of the ruling APC, paving the way for the party expectedly to push through its policies in the red chamber more smoothly than it did during the 8th National Assembly.
The ruling party may have only itself to blame should it fail to cultivate a robust and cordial working relationship with the Senate in this new dispensation.