Senate, House of Reps elect new leaders — LIVE UPDATES

Senate, House of Reps elect new leaders — LIVE UPDATES

Members of the National Assembly will Tuesday elect the principal officers who will take charge of the Senate and the House of Representatives.

In the Senate, the major battle for the position of Senate President is between Ahmed lawan (Yobe North) and Bukola Saraki (Kwara Central).

Mr. Lawan is the preferred candidate of his party, the All Progressives Congress, APC, while Mr. Saraki has the support of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

In the House of Representatives, it is also a direct battle between Femi Gbajabiamila (Surelere, Lagos) and Yakubu Dogora (Tafawa Balewa/ Bogoro, Bauchi).

Mr. Gbajabiamila has been adopted by the APC as well, while PDP has directed its members to vote Mr. Dogara into office.

The die is cast between the two leading parties.

Our reporters are at the two chambers and will provide live updates of the proceedings there.

LIVE

16.18

Yakubu Dogara emerges House of Reps Speaker

Member of the House of Representatives have elected Yakubu Dogara, who represents Bogoro/ Tafawa Balewa federal constituency in Bauchi state, as the Speaker of the 8th Assembly.

Mr. Dogara defeated Femi Gbajabiamila, who represents Surulere federal constituency, Lagos state, in a keenly contested election.

Mr. Dogara scored 182 votes while Mr. Ggajabiamila polled 174.

Mr. Dogara is emerging the speaker against the wish of his party, the All Progressives Congress, APC, which had on Saturday conducted a mock election to choose Mr. Gbajabiamila as the party's official candidate.

Mr. Dogara and his supporters ignored their party and stated that they prefer to be beaten at the floor of the House.

His chances to win the post received a boost early Tuesday when the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, adopted him as its candidate and advised its members to vote for the Bauchi lawmaker.

Mr. Dogara was the chairman House Services committee throughout the life of the last assembly.

15.42
Voting has ended in the House of Reps' Speaker election. Those that nominated Gbajabiamila and Dogara have been invited to come forward to observe while sorting and ballot counting progresses.

14.29
Voting is still ongoing in the House of Representatives Speaker elections. It is now the turn of lawmakers from Karina State, North West, to vote.

13.29
House of Reps lawmakers have begun voting to elect either Dogara or Gbajabiamila as the Speaker. A ballot paper is provided to each member and they are expected to fill and cast their votes at the ballot box provided. Members are being called in groups, but they would vote individually.

13.18

Dogara accepted the nomination.

Mohammed Abdu from Bauchi also nominated Femi Gbajabiamila from Lagos for the office of Speaker.

The nomination was seconded by Shuaibu Philip from Edo state

13.09

Clerk of Nass Salisu Maikasuwa announced that 358 members are in attendance while one is sick.

Abdulmumin Jibrin from Kano nominated Yakubu Dogara for the office of Speaker.

He quoted section 60 of the constitution and the orders of the House of Representatives to nominate Yakubu Dogara.

The Nomination was seconded by Chike Okafor from Imo state

13.04
Roll call of members elect is completed by the Clerk of the House of Reps. Sani Omolori. Nomination of members seeking to be the new Speaker of the House to commence shortly.

12.57
Voting set to begin in the House of Representatives as the Clerk of the House, Sani Omolori takes roll call of members according to their states in alphabetical order. He began with Abia State.

12.44
While other Senators were sworn-in in batches, immediate past Senate President, David Mark was sworn in alone, as a mark of respect.

12.22
The House of Representatives are now getting set to elect their own principal leaders. Clerk of the National Assembly, Salisu Maikasuwa, has already moved to the green chamber to take charge of proceedings.

11.58

CONFIRMED: Ekweremadu elected Deputy Senate President

We can now confirm that the immediate past Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, has been re-elected into office as Deputy Senate president.

He defeated Ali Ndume of the APC. Mr. Ndume has accepted defeat.

There were 75 votes. Ekweremadu scored 50. Ndume scored 24. One invalid vote.

11.50
Voting concluded and officials are now sorting and counting the votes to decide who emerge as deputy to Saraki.

11.43

Controversial Senator, Buruji Kashama is also attending the Senate inauguration and cast his vote at about 11:45am.

Senators and others inside the red chamber applauded when his name was called.

10.46

CORRECTION

The election for the office of Senate Deputy President is still ongoing. Immeduate past deputy, Ike Ekweremadu, is contesting against Ali Ndume from Borno State.

Our earlier update indicating Mr. Ekweremadu had been elected unopposed was in error and is regretted.

Immediate past Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, is tipped to be re-elected. He was nominated by Abiye Sekibo from Rivers State. Mr. Ekweremadu is a member of the minority Peoples Democratic Party.

He is expected to win the race following a power sharing deal that had the minority but influential PDP back the new senate president, Bukola Saraki.

10.45

Bukola Saraki elected Senate President

Bukola Saraki, a former governor of Kwara State, has been elected the president of the eighth Senate.

Mr. Saraki of the All Progressives Congress, APC, defeated his party's preferred candidate, Ahmed Lawan, to emerge the Senate president.

He was nominated by Sani Yerima and seconded by Dino Melaye.

Mr. Saraki has been sworn into office.

10.32

A Former Governor of Lagos state and one of the national leaders of the APC, Bola Tinubu just arrived the International Conference Centre, Abuja, venue of the meeting between President Muhammadu Buhari and lawmakers elected under the APC.

Mr. Tinubu arrived in company of the former Interim national Chairman of the APC, Bisi Akande. They are engaging some lawmakers who had already arrived ICC awaiting the arrival of Mr. Buhari for the meeting to commence.

Based on the announcement made earlier, the president is expected to arrive by 9am for the meeting, but he is yet to do so as at 9:26am.

The lawmakers are expected to drive to the National Assembly to vote for their principal leaders after the meeting.

10.23

Hundreds of police officers have cordoned the entrance to the National Assembly, as over 2,000 people pushing to have access. Journalists, essential duty workers and even some lawmakers have been denied access. There is a heavy security presence around the complex at Three Arms Zone, Abuja.