The 10th National Assembly was on Tuesday, June 13, inaugurated and proclaimed by the President and Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
It is another historic occasion, one that showcases our nation’s democracy which many agree is a democracy hard-won.
Senators vote for their preferred choice
Nigerian lawmakers elected the presiding officers to lead the 10th National Assembly Tom Holland Announces He’s Taking a Break From Acting Keep Watching Senators elect to vote in Godswill Akpabio as the president of the 10th Senate. Akpabio scored 63 votes to defeat his closest rival Abdulaziz Yari who scored 46 votes.
In the same vein, Barau Jibrin emerged as the deputy senate president unopposed. For the House of Representatives seat, Tajudeen Abbas clinched the speakership seat of the 10th Assembly with 353 votes.
While Benjamin Okezie Kalu emerges unopposed as the deputy speaker of the House of Representatives.
Profile of the 10th National Assembly Leaders
In view of the above development, this article presents the full profile of the presiding officers who will make key decisions for Nigerians in the Senate and House of Representatives.
1. Godswill Akpabio profile (Senate President)
The former minister of Niger Delta Affairs was born on December 9, 1962. Akpabio completed his primary education at Methodist Primary School, Ukana, and then proceeded to Federal Government College, Port Harcourt, Rivers State where he obtained his O’ and A’ levels certificate. The lawmaker studied Law at the University of Calabar and attended the Nigeria Law School in Lagos.
After school, he worked as a teacher and later practiced at Paul Usoro and Co.; a law firm. Akpabio also worked with the EMIS Telecoms Limited where he became the company Managing Director.
In the year 2002, he was appointed as the Commissioner for Petroleum and Natural Resources.
Afterward, he became the Akwa Ibom State Governor under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ticket in 2007.
He was elected for a second term in office in 2011. The former minister emerged as the Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governors Forum in 2013.
He then won the Senatorial seats of the Akwa Ibom North West Senatorial District (Ikot Ekpene) in 2015. In 2015 also, Akpabio became the Senate Minority Leader.
In August 2018, Akpabio resigned as Senate Minority Leader, dumped the PDP and defected to the All Progressive Congress (APC).
Meanwhile, in July 2019, President Muhammadu Buhari nominated Akpabio as Minister for the Niger Delta Affairs.
The Senate confirmed him the following month August 2019. On Tuesday, June 2023, Akpabio was elected as the new senate president after defeating his major rival with 17 votes.
2. Jibrin Barau profile (Deputy Senate President)
Jibrin Barau is a native of Kabo Township, Kabo Local Goment Area, Kano State, and was born in 1959.
The northern lawmaker backed a Bachelor’s Degree in accounting, a master’s certificate in Financial Management and pricing, a master’s certificate in Management, and Masters of Business Administration (MBA).
Barau also earned a certificate in Financial Management on business decisions from Cornell University, United States. The senator worked briefly in the accounting department of Kano State Foundation, before he resigned in 1992 to begin his private business that involves the manufacturing, insurance and construction sectors.
Barau first contested the election in 1999 to the House of Representatives to represent the Tarauni Federal Constituency of Kano State and he won. At the House of Representatives, he served as Chairman, House Committee on Appropriations and a member of the House Committee on Power during that period.
After his tenure elapsed in the House of Representatives, Barau served as Chairman Kano State Investment and Properties Ltd, a one-time Commissioner of Science and Technology Kano State.
In 2001, he served as a member of a committee set up by the former President Olusegun Obasanjo to review Nigeria’s Budgetary process. In 2009, he served as a member of the Kano State Business Incentive Committee.
Barau then returned to politics, to the electoral contest in 2015 where he contested and won the senatorial election of Kano North Senatorial District under the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and he served as the Vice – Chairman of Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream) and later he became the Chairman of the same Committee.
Towards the latter part of the year 2016, Barau was reassigned to the Senate Committee on Tertiary Institutions and TETfund as Chairman of the Committee. The lawmaker was also a member of the Committee on Niger Delta, Industries, Land Transportation and Appropriations and Secretary of Northern Senators Forum.
In a twist, on October 3, 2019, Senator Barau sponsored a bill for the establishment of the Federal Polytechnic Kabo.
Interestingly, in October 2022, President Muhammadu Buhari gave the popular senator the national honour of Commander Of The Order Of The Niger (CON).
3. Tajudeen Abbas (Speaker House of Representatives)
Honourable Tajudeen Abbas was born in October 1963 in Zaria, Kaduna State, Nigeria. The lawmaker is an educationist and a politician who represented the federal constituency, Kaduna State, Northern Nigeria.
He attended the Kaduna Teachers College (KTC) where he got a Teachers Grade II certificate for 1981. After that, he then proceeded to Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria and study Business Administration and graduated in 1988.
Moving forward, he obtained a Masters degree in business administration from the same institution in 1993. Abbas then proceeded further in his education to bag a doctorate degree in business management from Usman Dan-Fodio University, Sokoto in 2010.
The lawmaker’s career kickstarted start as a primary school teacher from 1981 through 1988 before he then moved to become a lecturer at the Kaduna State Polytechnic in 1989.
In 1993, he joined the Kaduna State University (KASU) as a lecturer till 2001. From the year 2001 through 2005, Dr. Tajudeen Abbas worked as a marketing manager for NTC Plc.
In 2011, Dr. Abbas joined politics and won the election to the House of Representatives to represent Zaria Federal Constituency, Kaduna State under the platform of All Progressives Congress (APC). He returned again to the Green Chambers from 2015 to 2019 and again in 2023.
At the Green Chambers, Dr. Tajudeen Abbas served as the Vice Chairman of the Legislative Compliance Committee and headed many committees including National Planning and Economic Development, Public Procurement, Defence, Social Duties, Finance and Commerce.
4. Benjamin Kalu (Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives)
Benjamin Kalu is the lawmaker representing Bende Federal Constituency, Abia State and was the spokesperson of the Green Chambers as well as the Chairman House Committee on Media and Public Affairs.
Born on May 5th, 1971, Benjamin Okezie Kalu graduated from the University of Calabar, where he served as a student representative. He also served as the national chairman of PDP in the diaspora. Benjamin Kalu was also the local government chairman of Bende, Abia State, at the age of thirty-one (31).
Later, he became the senior special adviser to the then governor of Abia State Orji Uzor Kalu on local government and chieftaincy affairs, before he became the senior special adviser to the governor on Millennium Development Goals and international relations
In 2002, Kalu contested for the House of Representatives primaries but lost to Mbah Ajah. In 2011 and 2015, he contested the House of Representatives election under the platform of the Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA) but lost.
On February 23rd, 2019, he finally won the seat under the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) as he defeated Chima Anyaso of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to represent Bende federal constituency, Abia State.
Honourable Kalu on Tuesday, June 13, emerged as the deputy speaker of the House of Representatives. He has served two tenures already for the Green Chamber.
