The Senate Tuesday completed composition of its leadership positions with announcement of eight principal officers by both the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Announcing the composition from caucuses of the two parties before plenary, the Senate President, Senator Ahmad Lawan, said as stated in a letter forwarded to that effect, the APC caucus in the Senate has settled for Senators Yahaya Abdullahi (Kebbi North) as Senate Leader and Ajayi Borrofice ( Ondo North), as Deputy Leader .
Others are Senators Orji Uzor Kalu (Abia North) as Whip of the Senate and Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi (Niger North ) as Deputy Whip .
The PDP caucus in its own letter notifying the Senate of such appointments, settled for Senators Enyinnaya Abaribe (Abia South ) as Senate Minority Leader and Emmanuel Bwacha (Taraba South) as Deputy Minority Leader .
Others are Senators Philip Tanimu Aduda (FCT) as Senate minority whip and Sahabi Yau ( Zamfara North) as Deputy Minority Whip.
In their separate acceptance speeches, both the Senate Leader and Minority Leader pledged to work together in making the Senate one, for the benefit of all Nigerians.
Yahaya Abdullahi said, ” I am humbled. Never in my life have I ever dreamt of coming this far. It’s a lifetime achievement. My own responsibility is to provide the kind leadership that will unite the entire Senate. Once we come here, we are senators of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“I will not segregate anyone here. We will face the challenges that we have together. We will support the leadership of the National Assembly to ensure we deliver on our campaign promises to the people.”
Abaribe in his own remarks said, “I agree with the Senate majority leader that once we are here, we don’t see ourselves as party members. We see ourselves as statesmen here to solve the problems of Nigeria.
“At anytime we step here, we have three duties. We have a duty to our constituents. Then a duty to Nigeria and thirdly, it’s a duty to God. If we can do that, I not sure there will be any problem we can’t resolve on this floor.
“From this side of the aisle, we will give you our cooperation. We expect the same cooperation from the other side of the aisle.”
