The lawmaker representing Bende Federal Constituency in Abia state, Benjamin Kalu, has emerged as the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives for the 10th National Assembly.
Kalu, who is the anointed candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, emerged unopposed at the inauguration of the 10th House of Representatives on Tuesday in Abuja.
The Abia lawmaker was sworn in at 12:21pm.
Kalu is taking over from the Deputy Speaker of the 9th National Assembly, Idris Wase.
The emergence of Kalu followed the election of a member from Zaria Federal Constituency in Kaduna State, Tajudeen Abbas as Speaker of the Green Chamber.
Abbas defeated Wase and Aminu Jaji in a voice vote on Tuesday at the National Assembly Complex in Abuja.
Abbas scored 352 votes of the total 359 votes cast while Jaji and Wase polled three votes each.
In the just-concluded elections, the ruling APC secured over 170 of the 360 seats in the green chamber, the highest by any party. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) came second with over 100 seats, the Labour Party (LP) with over 35 seats, the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) with about 20.
Many APC lawmakers had indicated interest to emerge the next Speaker of the House. They include Wase, Jaji, Alhassan Ado-Doguwa, Yusuf Gagdi, Aliyu Betara, Abdulraheem Olawuyi, Princess Onuoha, amongst others but all others stepped down with the exception of Wase and Jaji.
