UPDATED: BUKOLA SARAKI DECLARED PRESIDENT OF THE 8TH SENATE AMIDST CONFUSION WHILE DOGARA BETAS GBAJABIAMILA TO EMERGE HOUSE OF REP SPEAKER

Bukola Saraki representing Kwara Central has been declared winner and been declared the President of 8th Senate by 57 of 108 Senators, with 51 Senators, including Sen. Ahmed Lawan, absent.


The other Senators were at the International Conference Centre at the time Saraki was declared President.

Hon. Dogara Beats Femi Gbajabiamila to emerge House of Rep. Speaker 

Ahead of party favourite, Femi Gbajabiamila, a member of the House of Representatives from Bauchi State, Mr. Yakubu Dogara, has been elected the Speaker of the House.

In an election to pick the Speaker of the 8th legislature in Abuja on Tuesday, Dogara, a legal practitioner, scored 182 votes to beat the member, representing Surulere 1 Federal Constituency in Lagos State, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila, who scored 174 votes.

In a primary conducted by the ruling All Progressives Congress last Saturday, Gbajabiamila had beaten Dogara to emerge the consensus candidate of the APC for the Reps top post.

APC REJECTS THE ELECTION OF THE SENATE PREIDENT AND HOUSE OF REP SPEAKER

APC has released an official statement stating that Buokola Saraki and Hon. Dogara are not the party's candiates for the senate president and house of representatives respectively.

"Senator Bukola and Hon. Dogara are not the candidates of the APC and a majority of its National Assembly members-elect for the positions of Senate President and House Speaker. The party duly met and conducted a straw poll and clear candidates emerged for the posts of Senate President, Deputy Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives, supported by a majority of all Senators-elect and members-elect of the House of Representatives.
All National Assembly members-elect who emerged on the platform of the party are bound by that decision. The party is supreme and its interest is superior to that of its individual members. Consequently, the APC leadership is meeting in a bid to reestablish discipline in the party and to mete out the necessary sanctions to all those involved in what is nothing but a monumental act of indiscipline and betrayal to subject the party to ridicule and create obstacles for the new administration. There can be no higher level of treachery, disloyalty and insincerity within any party"the statement read