Akpabio swears in Lalong, declares seats of two APC senators vacant

Akpabio swears in Lalong, declares seats of two APC senators vacant

Former Minister of Labour Employment and Productivity, Simon Lalong, has been sworn in as a member of the 10th Senate.

Lalong was sworn in on Wednesday at a session presided over by the President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio.

He took the oath of office at about 11.57 am on the floor of the Senate.

Akpabio immediately congratulated Lalong, a former governor of Plateau State, and the Director-General of the All Progressives Congress Campaigns during the 2023 presidential poll that produced President Bola Tinubu.

Lalong will represent Plateau-South on the platform of the APC.

Recall that, Lalong, a former Speaker of the Plateau State House of Assembly, had tendered his resignation to President Tinubu earlier on Tuesday.

Speaking soon after his inauguration, Lalong said he actually wanted to be a senator after he served his tenure as governor in May 2023.

Lalong said, “This was my first choice, to be candid.”

According to him, he opted to hold the position of minister in the interim and on the invitation of Tinubu because he had a case he was pursuing at the courts.

Lalong promised to do his best to serve his electorate to the best of his abilities.

Also reacting to the inauguration, the National Chairman of the APC, Alhaji Abdullahi Ganduje, described it as a moment of happiness.

“This is a moment of happiness. We are so happy that he won at the Court of Appeal.

“What Nigerians will expect is good legislation. As we know, the APC has the majority and will work for the prosperity of all Nigerians,” Ganduje added.

The Court of Appeal, Abuja Division, had on November 7 upheld the judgment of the lower tribunal, which declared Lalong the winner of the Plateau-South Senatorial District election.

The Independent National Electoral Commission initially declared the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Mr Napoleon Bali, as the winner.

Bali had scored 148,844 votes, while Lalong recorded 91,674, according to INEC.

But Lalong challenged the result on the grounds that the PDP had no proper structures in the state on which a candidate could contest an election.

Akpabio declares seats of two APC senators vacant

In a similar development, Senate President Godswill Akpabio has declared the seats of two senators elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), David Umahi and Ibrahim Geidam, vacant.

This followed their appointments as ministers of Works and Police Affairs, respectively. Umahi represented Ebonyi south, Geidam represented Yobe east.

By declaring their seats vacant, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is now saddled with the responsibility of conducting by-elections in these senatorial districts.

Earlier in the week, INEC chairman Mahmoud Yakubu, said the commission was considering conducting by-elections and rerun polls in some state and federal constituencies in February 2024.

Yakubu noted that political parties must carry out fresh primaries within the limited period provided by law for the by-elections.

“With regard to the by-elections, you may recall that in my recent address at the swearing-in of new resident electoral commissioners (RECs), which was combined with our last quarterly meeting with the RECs nationwide, I made a commitment that the commission will conduct elections to fill vacancies in the national and state assembly constituencies,” Yakubu said.