Senator Godswill Akpabio, representing Akwa Ibom North-West has emerged the 10th President of the Senate.
Akpabio, a former Senator Minority Leader who defeated Senator Abdulaziz Yari, polled 63 votes to defeat Yari, a former governor of Zamfara, who scored 46 votes.
The lawmakers-elect had earlier commenced voting on the floor of the Nigerian Senate, in the build-up to the inauguration of the 10th National Assembly.
The former minister of Niger Delta affairs was the preferred candidate of the governing All Progressives Congress (APC) ahead of the contest.
Senator Akpabio was subsequently sworn in as the President of the Senate for the 10th National Assembly, succeeding Senator Ahmad Lawan, who is also a member of the 10th Senate.
Akpabio, 60, served as governor of Akwa Ibom from 2007 to 2015 and senate minority leader from 2015 to 2018.
He was appointed minister of Niger Delta affairs by former President Muhammadu Buhari in 2019 and resigned in June 2022 to contest the presidential primaries of the APC
