THE candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the Senate presidency, Godswill Akpabio, has been voted the 10th Senate president.

Akpabio has consequently been sworn in as the president of the 10th assembly.

The Akwa Ibom Nouth-West Senator-elect won the Senate President election on Tuesday, June 13.

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He garnered 63 votes out of the 109 total ballots casts, defeating the Zamfara West Senator-elect, Abdul’aziz Yari, who had 46 total votes.

The voting commenced at the Red Chamber in Abuja, Nigeria, at 8:45 and ended at 09:15 am.

Akpabio is former Governor of Akwa Ibom. He also served as the Minister for Niger Delta Affairs from 2019 to 2022. He represents Akwa Ibom North-West Senatorial zone in the 10th National Assembly.

Several members of the parliament had indicated an interest in the position of the senate president.

But Akpabio contested on the platform of the APC, the party with the highest number of senatorial seats, and had the support of the president, Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Contenders for the hot seat included Ahmed Ibrahim Lawan (Yobe North), Ali Ndume (Borno South), Akpabio Godswill (Akwa-Ibom North), Orji Uzoh Kalu (Abia North), Jibrin Barau (Kano-North), and Mohammed Sani Musa (Niger-East).

In the Senate, the APC has 57 seats, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has 29, and the Labour Party has six.

The New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) and the Social Democratic Party have two members each, while the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and the Young Peoples Progressive Party (YPPP) have one member each.