Ahmed Lawan elected Senate President

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12.10pm:

Senator Ahmed Ibrahim Lawan has been elected as the President of Nigeria's 9th Senate, scoring 79 votes to defeat Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume who polled 28 votes.

Born in 1959, Senator Lawan bagged a Bachelor's degree in Geography from the University of Maiduguri, Nigeria; a Master's degree in Remote Sensing from Ahmadu Bello University, Nigeria; and a Doctorate degree in Remote Sensing/GIS from Cranfield University, UK.

He was elected to the House of Representatives from Yobe State in 1999, and at different times chaired the House Committees on Education and Agriculture.

In 2007, he was elected to the Senate. In 2008, he was a member of the National Assembly's Joint Committee on Constitution Review. In 2009, as Chairman of the Senate committee on Public Accounts, Lawan initiated and sponsored the Desertification Control Commission Bill.

He was re-elected as a Senator in 2011, 2015 and 2019.

After meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari last week, Senator Danjuma Goje stepped down for Senator Lawan from the Senate Presidency race.

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11.00am

107 out of the 109 Senators in Nigeria's upper legislative chamber are currently voting to elect the President of the 9th Senate. WATCH...