AHMED Lawan, senator representing Yobe North district, has been declared and sworn-in as president of the Senate of the just-inaugurated ninth assembly after a secret ballot election.

He gathered 79 votes while Ali Ndume, another candidate for the position who is representing Borno South senatorial district, had 28 votes.

“I am happy to report that the 107 senators cast their votes,” announced Mohammed Sani-Omolori, clerk of the National Assembly following the counting process.

“And at the end of the voting, this is the result: Senator-elect Ahmed Ibrahim Lawan, 79 votes; Senator-elect Mohammed Ali Ndume, 28 votes; total votes cast, 107.

“On the strength of this, therefore, it is my pleasure to announce that senator-elect Ahmed Ibrahim Lawan having scored the highest vote of the total number of votes cast is hereby returned as duly-elected president of the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

Both Lawan and Ndume are members of the All Progressives Congress, but the party leadership had openly endorsed the former’s candidacy.

Earlier while accepting his nomination by Yahaya Abdullahi, Senator-elect from Kebbi North, Lawan promised to collaborate with all the chamber’s lawmakers in performing his duties.

“This is an opportunity for us to work together, to remain united as an institution to deliver interventions sustainable for growth of the society,” he said. “If you elect me and I become the president of the ninth Senate, I will work with all of you.”

Lawan was elected to Yobe State’s House of Representatives in 1999 and first became a senator in 2007, participating as a member of various committees including the Joint Committee on Constitution Review in 2008 and Senate committee on Public Accounts in 2009. He was reelected in 2011, 2015, and 2019.

He was the majority leader of the Senate in the eighth Assembly.