On Tuesday, lawmakers- elect have chosen the leadership of the two chambers of the National Assembly in a keenly contested election. Below are the new elected leaders:
Godswill Akpabio: Senate President
The new Senate President Godswill Obot Akpabio was born on November 9, 1962, and hails from Ikot Ntuen in Essien Udim of Akwa Ibom State. He went to the University of Calabar and trained as a lawyer.
Akpabio was Commissioner for Petroleum and Natural Resources; Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs and Lands and Housing from 2002 to 2006.
He was elected and served as governor of Akwa Ibom State for two terms beginning from 2007 to 2025. During this period, he was Chairman PDP Governors Forum.
In 2015, he contested and won the election into the Senate to represent Akwa Ibom North-West Senatorial District. While in the Senate, he held the position of Senate Minority Leader.
Akpabio was appointed Minister of Niger Delta Affairs on August 21, 2019, by the Buhari administration, a position he relinquished, joined the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), contested and won election to the 10th Senate in 2023. On June 13, 2023, Akpabio was elected Senate President
Jibrin Barau: Deputy Senate President
Senator Jibrin Barau hails from Kabo in Kabo Local Government Area of Kano State. Born in 1959, Barau is 64 years old, and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting and two Masters in Financial Management and Pricing, and Business Administration from Cornell University, USA.
Barau had a brief stint with the Kano State Foundation where he served in the Accounts Department and went into private business in 1992. He returned to the public sector where he was Chairman, Kano State Investment and Properties Limited.
He began his political career serving as Commissioner for Science and Technology; a member of the committee which reviewed the budgetary process during the era of President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2001; Kano State Business Incentive Committee.
The politician took a foray into the Senate in 2015 representing Kano North Senatorial District on the Platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). In the Senate, Barau was Vice – of Chairman Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream) of the Senate, and subsequently became the Chairman of the same Committee.
In 2016, he was made Chairman of the Senate Committee on Tertiary Institutions and TETfund as the Chairman of the Committee. He was a member of the Senate Committee on Niger Delta, Industries, Land Transportation and Appropriations. One of Barau’s landmark achievements in the Senate was his sponsorship of a bill on The Federal Polytechnic, Kabo.
Barau, who is the Secretary of Northern Senators Forum, returned to the Senate in 2023 and was elected Deputy Senate President on Tuesday, June 13, 2023.
Tajuddeen Abbas: Speaker, House of Reps
Tajudeen Abbas is 59 years old, having been born on October 1, 1963, in Kwarbai, Zaria in Kaduna State. Abbas has a Master’s degree in Business Administration from the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria. He also took a Ph.D. in Business Administration from the Usman Danfodio University, Sokoto.
He started his working career as a primary school teacher, then taught at the Polytechnic and the Kaduna State University, Kaduna from 1993 to 2001. He worked as Marketing Manager with the Nigerian Tobacco Distribution Company.
Abbas took a foray into politics in 2010 when he contested for election into the House of Representatives in 2011 and won to represent the Zaria Federal Constituency.
The federal lawmaker holds the record of being the highest sponsor of bills in the 8th Assembly from 2015 to 2019. He has to his credit 74 bills that he sponsored, out of which 21 were signed into law between 2019 and 2023. Abbas served in the following committees: Commerce, Finance, Special Duties, Defense, Public Procurement, and National Planning and Economic Development.
The politician who holds the traditional title of Iyan Zazzau, was on Tuesday, June 13, 2023, elected the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Benjamin Kalu: Deputy Speaker, House of Reps
Benjamin Okezie Kalu’s age is 51 years, and hails from Bende in Abia State.
Kalu is a product of the University of Calabar where he started politics as a student representative.
He started mainstream politics at the age of 29 serving as a member of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the Diaspora. He has the record of being the youngest Bende Local Government Chairman at the age of 31. When he clocked 34 years, he was appointed Senior Special Adviser on Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs and at 34 he was Senior Special Adviser and Millennium Development Goals to former Governor Orji Uzor Kalu.
He took a deep plunge into mainstream politics in 2002 when he joined by contesting and losing in the primary the House or Representatives election, and he abandoned the PDP and joined the Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA) where again he contested the election into the House of Reps in 2011 and 2015 which he lost again.
In 2019, he joined the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and contested the same election and won this time to represent Bende Federal Constituency.
In the House, Kālu served as the spokesperson of the House of Representatives and the Chairman, the House Committee on Media and Public Affairs.
He was reelected in February 2023 general election. With the inauguration of the 10th NASS on Tuesday, Kalu was nominated and elected unopposed as deputy speaker.
