6′ Breaking NewsLabour Party Threatens to Occupy INEC Offices Nationwide over Commission’s Refusal to Allow Inspection of MaterialsBreaking | 4 mins ago*Accuses INEC of reconfiguring BVAS without the representatives of parties *Obi’s lawyers vow to take legal action against electoral umpireSegun JamesThe Labour Party (LP) has accused the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of frustrating its petition against the outcome of the 2023 presidential election by not allowing it to inspect election materials as ordered by the Appeal Court.LP also raised the alarm that INEC had started reconfiguring the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) without the presence of the representatives of political parties.This is as the legal team of the presidential candidate of the LP, Mr. Peter Obi has vowed to take legal action against the commission over its “deliberate” refusal to allow its client to inspect presidential election materials in line with the orders of the Court of Appeal.At a press conference in Lagos yesterday, the party’s spokesman, Dr. Yunusa Tanko, accused INEC of disobeying the order of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal, which directed it to grant the party and its presidential candidate, Obi, access to true certified copies of materials used in the conduct of the presidential poll.Tanko said the order of the presidential election petition tribunal was duly served on INEC on March 3, even though the commission was also present and represented at the tribunal when the order was made.He added that the party also sent a letter to the commission on March 6, reminding the electoral umpire that it was yet to obey the order.Tanko threatened that LP might ask its supporters to stage protests nationwide at the offices of the commission over its refusal to obey the court order.“It should be noted that in a democracy like ours, the rule of law must triumph not only in our legal system but also in our body polity. Parties to litigation, like in the instant case, must accept and obey every order of the court in good faith, and no party should be seen to employ self-help to disparage or disrespect an order of the court, which, if not checked and curtailed, could undermine our democracy, the rule of law and constitutionalism.“The action of INEC under reference also constitutes, for all intent and purposes, an act of judicial insubordination and willful refusal to comply with the order of the court,” he said.He noted that while INEC has refused the party access to the election materials, the commission had also started reconfiguring the BVAS machines without the parties’ representatives in the case in attendance to confirm the data being backed up.“We, therefore, call on the general public to note the level of lawlessness and brazen disobedience to a lawful order of a court by an important statutory agency such as INEC, which is a well-calculated attempt to undermine and frustrate the presentation of the petition by the Labour Party and its presidential candidate, Obi before the tribunal in good time.“We, therefore, want to state that we will not fail to call our supporters to march to INEC offices nationwide in a non-violent protest, which is allowed by law. This is to curtail the flagrant disobedience to court orders by INEC,” he added.Tanko, who maintained that Obi won the presidential election from the results submitted by its party agents from the polling units, urged Nigerians to vote for the candidates of the party in the rescheduled March 18 governorship and state assembly elections.Meanwhile, Obi’s legal team has vowed to take legal action against the INEC for the commission’s “deliberate” refusal to allow its client to inspect the presidential election materials in line with the orders of the Court of Appeal.The Court of Appeal had issued an order allowing Obi, the LP, and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to inspect materials used for the February 25 presidential election, which INEC declared was won by Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC).INEC, on March 6, filed a motion on notice, praying the court to vary the orders to enable the commission to reconfigure accreditation machines used for the election to enable their use for the forthcoming governorship and state assembly elections.The appellate court, at its discretion, allowed INEC to reconfigure the BVAS but insisted that its earlier order granting Obi access to election materials still exists.INEC, in reaction to the ruling, stated, “We wish to reiterate that the commission is not against litigants inspecting election materials. Consequently, it will continue to grant all litigants access to the materials they require to pursue their cases in court.”But a member of Obi’s legal team, Alex Ejesieme (SAN), told THE WHISTLER that the electoral umpire had not granted them access to election materials.“Well, we have written to them (INEC); we have done everything possible, and they have refused to allow us to inspect. So, we will review our positions this weekend, and by Monday, we will know the next thing to do,” the lawyer said.He accused INEC of deliberately trying to delay Obi’s legal team from instituting a petition against the presidential election as prescribed by the Electoral Act, adding that the electoral umpire knows that accessing the election materials will expose alleged ballot rigging in the election.“Yes. You know, what they are doing is deliberate. Ordinarily, the proper thing for us to do is to commence committal proceedings against the INEC chairman and the officers involved but remember, by the Electoral Act 2022, we are supposed to file a petition.“So, what they are trying to do is to divert attention,” Ejesieme said, adding, “we will take steps to mount pressure on them to allow us to have copies of the electoral materials in line with the order of the court of Appeal.”While the collation of presidential results was ongoing on February 26, the LP, PDP, and the Action Democratic Congress (ADC) agents had boycotted the exercise and called for the cancellation of the election.International observers from the European Union also accused INEC of a “lack of transparency” due to its failure to immediately transmit results electronically from polling units to its public result viewing portal.Regarding access to election documents, Section 74 of the Electoral Act 2022, reads as follows, “74 (1) The Resident Electoral Commissioner in a state where an election is conducted shall, within 14 days after an application is made to him by any of the parties to an election petition, cause a true certified copy (CTC) of such document to be issued to the said party.“(2) Any Resident Electoral Commissioner who willfully fails to comply with the provisions in subsection (1) commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a maximum fine of N2,000,000 or imprisonment for a term of 12 months or both.”However, with the revelation by Tanko that the order of the presidential election petition tribunal was served on INEC on March 3, while the party also sent a letter to the commission on March 6, the 14 days deadline allowed by the law for INEC to produce the CTC of the election documents has not expired. CommentsRelated articlesAtiku Writes INEC, Demands Immediate Compliance with Court Order on Poll 443 Boko Haram Terrorists Surrender as Death Toll in ISWAP Clash Rises to 300 As Rainy Season Starts, NiMet Cautions Pilots, Passengers, Others against Thunderstorms Kalu, Wase, Jaji, Betara, Others Eye Gbajabiamila’s Seat as Race Kicks offPowered bymarfeel logoLogoFounded on January 22, 1995, THISDAY is published by THISDAY NEWSPAPERS LTD., 35 Creek Road Apapa, Lagos, Nigeria with offices in 36 states of Nigeria , the Federal Capital Territory and around the world. It is Nigeria’s most authoritative news media available on all platforms for the political, business, professional and diplomatic elite and broader middle classes while serving as the meeting point of new ideas, culture and technology for the aspirationals and millennials. The newspaper is a public trust dedicated to the pursuit of truth and reason covering a range of issues from breaking news to politics, business, the markets, the arts, sports and community to the crossroads of people and society.Atiku Writes INEC, Demands Immediate Compliance with Court Order on Poll9′ Atiku Writes INEC, Demands Immediate Compliance with Court Order on PollBreaking | 21 hours ago*PDP wants EFCC, Police, DSS to commence prosecution of INEC’s Chairman/officials for ‘financially compromising electoral laws’*Trouble in APC as National Vice Chairman calls for resignation of Abdullahi Adamu, OmisoreChuks Okocha and Adedayo Akinwale in AbujaThe candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the February 25 presidential election, Atiku Abubakar has written to the Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, demanding immediate compliance with a recent court order on the inspection of the election materials used during the poll.On the same day, the All Progressives Congress (APC) National Vice Chairman (North-west), Dr. Salihu Lukman called for the resignation of the party’s National Chairman, Abdulahi Adamu and National Secretary, Senator Iyiola Omsiore, in the interest of the party.Also yesterday, the PDP asked the Police, the Department of State Security (DSS) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to commence prosecution of the INEC chairman and some officials of the commission “for financially compromising the electoral laws through inducement.”Atiku and Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP), who lost the presidential election to Bola Tinubu of the APC, refused to concede defeat and approached the Court of Appeal, requesting to inspect the election materials used. The request was granted on March 3.Yesterday, Atiku’s lead counsel, Joe Gadzama wrote on behalf of his client to the INEC Chairman, calling for immediate compliance with the court’s order on access, inspection, examination and analysis of the presidential election materials.Gadzama wrote: “You will recall that the Court of Appeal, presided over by Hon. Justice Shagbaor Ikyegh, JCA sitting in Abuja, granted orders on March 3 2023 in favour of our clients.“The Court expressly ordered INEC to allow and grant access to our clients and their representatives to inspect, scan, make copies, forensically audit and obtain certified true copies (CTC) of all electoral materials which were used in the conduct of the presidential election.“The Court in Order no. 6 specifically allowed our clients to carry out forensic examination/analysis of the BVAS machines/devices and all information stored in the server/IREV/backend/clouds, amongst others. The enrolled court order was duly and promptly served on the Commission on the same 3 March 2023 by the Court bailiff accompanied by our clients’ representatives.“We have attached the acknowledged copy of the court order for ease of reference. It is our clients’ brief that upon service of the order, they immediately requested a date to follow up and they were asked to return on 6 March 2023.“On 6 March, our clients’ representatives, led by Adedamola Fanokun, Esq (office of the PDP National Legal Adviser), returned to the Commission ready to commence inspection, examination and obtaining of the electoral materials as ordered by the Court but they were informed at the Commission’s legal registry that there was no instruction yet from the Commission on the Court Order.“Our Clients further requested an audience with the Commission’s Director of Litigation to accelerate the process but they were not allowed as they were told by the Registry staff that the Director was in a meeting.“Sadly, these and other efforts by our clients have yielded no result. It is disturbing that despite service of the Court Order on the Commission since 3 March 2023, the Commission is yet to allow our clients and their representatives to access, inspect and/or obtain the needed electoral materials as ordered by the Court despite repeated visits to the Commission and follow-up in respect thereof. No doubt, the Commission is bound by the orders of the Court and cannot choose if, when and/or how to comply with the same.“The unqualified obligation of the Commission, which of course includes INEC officials, is to unhesitatingly comply and give effect to the subsisting order of Court; there is no discretion to exercise here. In the circumstances, we hereby demand that the Commission should immediately comply with the subsisting orders of Court and in particular, we reiterate the following demands on behalf of our Clients:“Daily access to all polling documents, voters register, ballot papers and electoral forms/materials for purposes of scanning, forensic audit, expert examination and inspection; Daily access to the BVAS machines/devices and server/IREV/backend/clouds for purposes of forensic examination and analysis; and CTCs of all BVAS accreditation reports, forms EC40A, EC8A, EC8AVP, EC8C, EC8D, EC8E and all other electoral forms/materials on a State by State basis.“We hope that our demand will receive the prompt positive action that it requires as we will continue to visit the Commission on a daily basis for the exercise as set out above in line with the subsisting order of the Court. Thank you in anticipation of your urgent positive action in this regard as time is really of the essence.”The Justice Joseph Ikyegh-led panel of the appellate court, which will also sit as the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal, granted the request for inspection of the electoral materials on March 3 after it heard two separate ex-parte applications brought by Atiku, Obi and their political parties.Tinubu, who won the February 25 election scored 8,794,726 votes, the highest of all the candidates, thus meeting the first constitutional requirement to be declared the winner.He also scored over 25 per cent of the votes cast in 30 states, more than the 24 states constitutionally required.The INEC Chairman, who announced the final results, said Atiku came second with 6,984,520 votes. Obi came third with 6,101,533 votes while Rabiu Kwankwaso of the NNPP came fourth with 1,496,687 votes.Atiku and Obi have refused to concede defeat, vowing to recover their mandates in court.Vice Chairman demands Resignation of Adamu, OmisoreThe APC National Vice Chairman, Lukman is calling for the resignation of Adamu and Omsiore for a number of reasons.Lukman in a statement issued yesterday titled, “APC Internal Dynamics and the Future of Democracy”, said it was important that even before May 29, 2023 when Tinubu would be sworn in as President, every step must be taken to rectify any situation that might be used to continue divisive campaigns and propaganda against the APC and its control of the federal government.To this end, he called for an Emergency National Convention where the new national leadership of the party would emerge.He said with a National Chairman who is also a Muslim, it would be important that every necessary step was taken to inject a change of leadership for the party so that a new National Chairman who is a Christian takes over.To him, part of the advantage of this was that the National Chairman could be retained in North-Central.The party chieftain stressed that the current National Chairman has done an excellent job to manage a successful campaign to win the 2023 election with all the attendant challenges, adding that there should be no difficulty in convincing Adamu to resign to create opportunity for a Christian Chairman to emerge.According to him, “For that to happen, it may require an Emergency National Convention because if the hierarchy of the current leadership is to be followed, the successor to Sen. Adamu will be Sen. Abubakar Kyari who is a Muslim from the North-east.”Lukman stressed that apart from changing the National Chairman, there was the need to address the case of the National Secretary of the party.He stated categorically that Omisore had become a source of strong dispute in Osun State.He noted: “Unfortunately, rather than serving as a unifying factor for the party leadership in Osun State, Omisore is more a divisive factor, which may have been responsible for why APC lost the 2022 Governorship election to a political mediocre whose only qualification in politics may appear to be comic dancing skill.”Lukman also said there was need for APC leadership to properly plan the distribution of key positions in the federal government to reflect both ethnic, religious, gender and other demographic considerations.Against this background, he called on the leadership of the party to zone the positions of the Senate President and the Speaker House of the Representatives to North-west, South-east or South-south.Lukman pointed out that given that the President and Vice President are from South-west and North-east respectively, nobody from either of these two regions should aspire for the positions of Senate President or Speaker of the House of Representatives.He said opportunists might argue that in the last four years, the South-west also produced the Vice President and Speaker of the House of Representatives, but insisted that the party must correct this kind of lop-sided reality as a strategic approach to dousing ethnic and religious tension in the country.Lukman stated: “Accordingly, the positions of Senate President and Speaker House of Representatives should be zoned to North-west, South-east or South-south. With a Muslim President and a Muslim Vice President, it is only logical to zone the Senate President who is the number three ranking leader of government to either the South-east or South-south who would be a Christian.“Logically, the position of Speaker of the House of Representatives should be zoned to the North-west. This would have the advantage of acknowledging that the North-west gave Asiwaju Tinubu the highest votes of 2,950,393, representing 33.6% of the votes he won.”PDP wants INEC Chairman ProsecutedFor the second time in 10 days, the PDP has called on Yakubu to resign as INEC Chairman.PDP also asked the Police, the Department of State Security (DSS) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to commence criminal prosecution of the INEC Chairman and some officials of the commission for “financially compromising the electoral laws through inducement.”The National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Debo Ologunagba who made the demands at a press conference in Abuja yesterday said: “The party has further reviewed the widely-condemned infractions, brazen violation of the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022 and criminal manipulation and alteration of election results by the Yakubu-led INEC to subvert the Will of Nigerians in the February 25, 2023 Presidential and National Assembly Elections.“The PDP has also reviewed the latest scheme by INEC to reconfigure the BVAS devices, erase and destroy evidence of its manipulation of the Presidential election, deny Nigerians and political parties, especially our party and candidate access to relevant information required to prosecute our case at the Presidential Election Tribunal.“It is also obvious that the Commission under Prof. Yakubu deliberately sabotaged the uploading and transmission of results directly from the Polling Units to give room for the criminal mutilation, alteration and switching of election results across the nation in favour of the APC as now abundantly exposed in the pictorial and video evidence of compromised results sheets in many parts of the country.”Consequently, Ologunagba said the PDP demands that Yakubu should immediately step down from office, having allegedly abused the confidence and dashed the hope of millions of Nigerians, as well as political parties and the international community for a free, fair and credible election.Furthermore, he said “the PDP demands that the Inspector General of Police and the Director General of DSS immediately commence investigations into the electoral violations and manipulations by INEC with the view to prosecuting Prof. Yakubu and other officials of the Commission for electoral offences.“In the same vein the EFCC should open investigation into allegations that certain top officials of INEC were heavily compromised financially to manipulate the electoral process.” CommentsRelated articlesAlleged Racism: Seplat’s CEO Steps Aside, Hands over to COO Levelling the Playing Field for Women 5 Women Championing Female Inclusion in Entertainment Industry UN: Killing of 30 Borno Fishermen by ISWAP Deeply Shocking Three Exciting Guber Races of March 18th Boris Johnson to Deliver 2023 Anyiam-Osigwe Lecture What the Taxi Driver Told MePowered bymarfeel logoLogoFounded on January 22, 1995, THISDAY is published by THISDAY NEWSPAPERS LTD., 35 Creek Road Apapa, Lagos, Nigeria with offices in 36 states of Nigeria , the Federal Capital Territory and around the world. It is Nigeria’s most authoritative news media available on all platforms for the political, business, professional and diplomatic elite and broader middle classes while serving as the meeting point of new ideas, culture and technology for the aspirationals and millennials. The newspaper is a public trust dedicated to the pursuit of truth and reason covering a range of issues from breaking news to politics, business, the markets, the arts, sports and community to the crossroads of people and society.Kalu, Wase, Jaji, Betara, Others Eye Gbajabiamila’s Seat as Race Kicks off8′ Breaking NewsKalu, Wase, Jaji, Betara, Others Eye Gbajabiamila’s Seat as Race Kicks offBreaking | 1 min ago*Tinubu, Shettima, APC leaders to meet N’Assembly members-elect tomorrow over zoning of principal offices *May settle for Christian senate president to balance same faith presidential ticketDeji Elumoye, Adedayo Akinwale and Udora Orizu in AbujaWith the issuance of the certificate of returns to the members-elect of the House of Representatives by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the race for the principal offices, particularly the speaker, has begun, ahead of the inauguration of the 10th National Assembly on June 13, THISDAY’s investigation has revealed.THISDAY also gathered that the meeting between the President-elect, Bola Tinubu; his vice, Kashim Shettima; the leadership of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and its National Assembly members-elect scheduled for Monday in Abuja, has a two-point agenda – zoning of the principal offices of the National Assembly and the March 18 elections.Ranking members of the House believed to be interested in the position of the speaker include its current Spokesman, Benjamin Kalu (APC, Abia); Idris Wase (APC, Plateau); Muktar Aliyu Betara (APC, Borno); Aminu Jaji (APC, Zamfara); and Alhassan Ado Doguwa (APC, Kano).THISDAY, however, learnt that the ruling APC, which secured majority seats in both the Senate and House of Representatives at the February 25 polls, has not decided on the zoning of the presiding officers of the 10th National Assembly.It was gathered that in line with the parliamentary tradition, rules, and convention, the political party with the most legislators is expected to form the majority caucus and produce the presiding officers.The party with the dominant members would also constitute the majority leadership. In contrast, the party with the second highest number of lawmakers in the chamber would produce the minority principal officers.The principal officers, who are the leaders of the majority and minority caucuses, are constituted based on the membership configuration in the lower chamber.While the majority caucus is expected to produce the majority leader, the deputy majority leader, the chief whip, and the deputy whip, the minority caucus will produce the minority leader, the deputy minority leader, the minority whip, and the deputy minority whip.Ranking members, who are returning for the second or more time, are automatically qualified to contest the principal office positions either from the majority or the minority caucus.Out of the 360 seats in the House of Representatives, the All Progressives Congress (APC) won 162 seats; while the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) won 102.The Labour Party (LP) and the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) won 34 and 18 seats, respectively, while the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) got four seats.On their part, the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and African Democratic Congress (ADC) won two seats each, while the Young Progressive Party (YPP) clinched one seat.Following the issuance of certificates of return to the members–elect last Wednesday, the race for the two major presiding offices – Speaker and Deputy Speaker has begun among ranking lawmakers who are members of the APC.With the current Speaker, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, and the President-elect, Senator Bola Tinubu coming from Lagos State, the current speaker will likely not retain his position in the 10th National Assembly.THISDAY learnt from a close associate of Gbajabiamila that he would prefer to play any other prominent role in Tinubu’s administration to return to the House as an ordinary member.Gbajabiamila was conspicuously absent at the International Conference Centre (ICC) Abuja venue of the presentation of Certificates of Return, fuelling speculations that he might take a more prominent position in the incoming administration.Though the APC has not zoned the officers, further investigations by THISDAY revealed that the South-east and North-west geopolitical zones are strongly being considered for the speaker position.However, only six of the 43 members-elect from the South-east geopolitical zone are serving in the current Assembly, including the current House spokesman, Hon. Benjamin Kalu (APC, Bende Federal Constituency in Abia), and the Chairman of the House Committee on Aviation, Hon. Nnolim Nnaji (PDP, Nkanu-East/West).However, those who make a case for the North-west on the speaker’s position argued that the Senate President should go to the South-east. They maintained that the speaker’s position is enough to compensate the North-west for producing the highest number of votes for the APC in the presidential and National Assembly elections, given that the outgoing President, Muhammadu Buhari, hails from the zone.However, other members-elect from other zones, such as the North-central and North-east, are said to be interested in the position.Among the South-east lawmakers, Kalu (APC, Abia) is believed to be seriously mobilising his colleagues to emerge as the speaker, while Hon. Idris Wase (APC, Plateau) is also eyeing the top job from the North-central geopolitical zone.Similarly, Hon. Muktar Aliyu Betara (APC, Borno) is contesting the position from the North-east geopolitical zone.From the North-west geopolitical zone, the duo of Hon. Aminu Jaji (APC, Zamfara) and Alhassan Ado Doguwa (APC, Kano) are both eyeing the seat.Tinubu, Shettima, APC Leaders to Meet N’Assembly Members-elect Tomorrow over Zoning of Principal Offices Meanwhile, the meeting between Tinubu, Shettima, the leadership of the ruling APC, and the National Assembly members-elect scheduled for Monday at the Banquet Hall of the State House, Abuja, will discuss the issue of zoning and the March 18 elections.A ranking APC Senator who was also re-elected during February 25, 2023, National Assembly poll told THISDAY that the meeting was called to preview the March 18 elections and discuss the zoning of the leadership of the 10th National Assembly billed for inauguration in June.The South-south Senator, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the APC leadership believed it was high time the federal parliamentary election was reviewed to plan ahead of the next Saturday’s electionsAccording to him: “Monday’s meeting will not only review last month’s poll that produced majority APC Senators-elect for 10th National Assembly but will also ensure that all hands are on deck to ensure that coming Saturday’s elections are crisis-free with the ruling party consolidating and improving on its stronghold across the country”.He added that the second item on the agenda of the meeting scheduled to start by 2 pm with APC National Chairman, Senator Abdullahi Adamu presiding, is the issue of the leadership of the 10th National Assembly, which is supposed to be handled by the party leadership as it presently has 57 Senate seats out of the 98 Senate seats declared so far.APC leaders, he further said, would use the forum to brief the elected parliamentarians on their line of thought over where the presiding officers of the two chambers of the 10th National Assembly will come from.Sources at the weekend also told THISDAY that both the South-east and South-south are favoured to produce the Senate President of the 10th Assembly as the race hots up.On Friday, APC National Vice Chairman, North-west, Dr. Salihu Lukman, had called on the party’s leadership to zone the positions of the Senate President and the Speaker House of the Representatives to North-west, South-east or South-south.THISDAY’s investigation revealed that the odds favoured the South-east and South-south to occupy the number three seat in the land.A source who preferred to remain anonymous told THISDAY that while the former Governor of Abia State, Senator Orji Kalu, is eyeing the covered seat, former Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Senator Godswill Akpabio, Senator Osita Isunaso and the Governor of Ebonyi State, Dave Umahi are also interested the position.The source said: “The South-east is favoured under the circumstances, and I know Orji Kalu is positioning for it, and he’s lobbying Asiwaju very well.“Umahi wants it too, but I think what will count against him is that he’s a first-timer. But some people say that it doesn’t really matter, that it is not in their rule that a first timer cannot do it. After all, Godswill Akpabio was a first-timer when he became a principal officer.“I also know Akpabio too is pushing for it, but I don’t know how that will pan out. Akpabio argues that the position is not sacrosanct to the South-east, it is whoever can get the support.”Other ranking APC Senators being tipped for the 10th Senate Presidency include former Senate Leader, Senator Ali Ndume; former Governor of Gombe State, Senator Danjuma Goje; Chairman of Senate Services Committee, Senator Sani Mohammed Musa and Chairman of Senate Committee on Appropriations, Senator Jubrin Barau.Sources claimed all the interested Senators are already reaching out to their colleagues, especially the new Senators-elect.One of the contenders for the coveted seat of the Senate President, Senator Barau, has already met formally with 70 senators-elect in Abuja.The aim of the hosting at Transcorp Hilton during the week was for the Senators-elect to form the needed bond ahead of the inauguration of the federal parliament in June.THISDAY learnt that Senator Barau organised the event to enable him to interact with his colleagues.However, a member of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the APC told THISDAY that the party may settle for a Christian Senator-elect as President of the Senate “to douse the tension generated by the same faith presidential ticket of our great party, the APC.” No fewer than 98 out of 109 senators were given certificates of return last Tuesday by the INEC at the International Conference Centre, Abuja.A total of seven political parties won senatorial seats, with APC topping the list with 50 seats.The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) won 29 seats; Labour Party won six; New Nigerian People’s Party (NNPP) two; Social Democratic Party (SDP) also two; the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and Young Peoples Party (YPP) won one seat each. CommentsRelated articlesAtiku Writes INEC, Demands Immediate Compliance with Court Order on Poll 443 Boko Haram Terrorists Surrender as Death Toll in ISWAP Clash Rises to 300 Labour Party Threatens to Occupy INEC Offices Nationwide over Commission’s Refusal to Allow Inspection of Materials As Rainy Season Starts, NiMet Cautions Pilots, Passengers, Others against ThunderstormsPowered bymarfeel logoLogoFounded on January 22, 1995, THISDAY is published by THISDAY NEWSPAPERS LTD., 35 Creek Road Apapa, Lagos, Nigeria with offices in 36 states of Nigeria , the Federal Capital Territory and around the world. It is Nigeria’s most authoritative news media available on all platforms for the political, business, professional and diplomatic elite and broader middle classes while serving as the meeting point of new ideas, culture and technology for the aspirationals and millennials. The newspaper is a public trust dedicated to the pursuit of truth and reason covering a range of issues from breaking news to politics, business, the markets, the arts, sports and community to the crossroads of people and society.