Akpabio swears in Lalong as Plateau South Senator

President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, has sworn in former Minister of Labour, Employment and Productivity, Simon Lalong, as the Senator representing Plateau South Senatorial District.

Akpabio sworn in the newest federal lawmaker, who was the immediate past governor of Plateau State, and the Director-General of the All Progressives Congress, APC Campaign Council during the 2023 presidential election that produced President Bola Tinubu during the plenary on Wednesday.

Lalong, a former Speaker of the Plateau State House of Assembly, had tendered his resignation to President Tinubu earlier on Tuesday.

Speaking soon after his inauguration, Lalong said that he wanted to be a Senator after he served his tenure as governor in May 2023, saying: “This was my first choice, to be candid.”

According to him, he opted to hold the position of minister in the interim and on the invitation of President Tinubu, because he had a case he was pursuing at the courts.

Also reacting to the inauguration, the National Chairman of the APC, Alhaji Abdullahi Ganduje, described it as a moment of happiness.

“This is a moment of happiness. We are so happy that he won at the Court of Appeal.

“What Nigerians will expect is good legislation. As we know, the APC has the majority and will work for the prosperity of all Nigerians,” Ganduje added.

The Court of Appeal, Abuja Division, had on November 7 upheld the judgment of the lower tribunal, which declared Lalong the winner of the Plateau South Senatorial District election.

The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC initially declared the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Mr. Napoleon Bali, as the winner.

According to the INEC, Bali scored 148,844 votes, while Lalong recorded 91,674 in the senatorial election

But Lalong challenged the result on the grounds that the PDP had no proper structures in the state on which a candidate could contest an election.