Breaking: Ahmed Lawan wins Senate presidency election

Ahmed Lawan, the All Progressives Congress preferred candidate, has been elected the president of the Nigerian Senate.

Lawan defeated the People’s Democratic Party adopted candidate Ali Ndume, also of the APC with 79 votes. Ndume polled only 28 votes.

In 2015, Lawan, who represents Yobe North, contested the seat of Senate president against Bukola Saraki but lost to the former Kwara State governor.

Four years after, Lawan declared his intention to become president of the Nigeria Senate and chairman of the 9th National Assembly.

The support of the party hierarchy and the presidency earned him a landslide victory against a fellow partyman.

Days before the election, Buhari prevailed on a fellow contender Danjuma Goje to step down Lawan. But Ndume refused to align himself with the party’s choice to support Lawan.

Lawan was a member of the House of Representatives in 1999 where chaired the House Committees on education and agriculture.

He was elected to the Nigeria Senate in 2007. He became a member of the National Assembly’s Joint Committee on Constitution Review in 2008.

As chairman of the Senate Committee on Public Accounts, Lawan sponsored the Desertification Control Commission Bill in 2009.