Voting has commenced in the Senate after the closure of nominations for election into the office of the Senate President in the Ninth Assembly.
The race is between Ahmad Lawan (APC, Yobe) and Ali Ndume (APC, Borno).
While the motion for the nomination of Lawan was moved by Yahaya Abdullahi (APC, Nasarawa) and seconded by Adeola Olamilikan, that of Ndume was moved by Ishaku Abu (PDP, Adamawa) and seconded by Barry Mpigi (PDP, Rivers).
Clerk of the National Assembly, Mohammed Sani-Omolori, had earlier announced that open secret voting as enshrined in the Senate Standing Orders 2015 (as amended) would be used.
This, however, led to an uproar, as APC senators protested that there was a court injunction restraining the Senate from using open secret voting and adopting open voting.
However, Sani-Omolori told the lawmakers that he had not been served with any court order.
He thereafter ordered the Clerk of the Senate, Nelson Ayewoh, to do a roll call, after which he announced that 107 out of 109 senators-elect would participate in the election of Presiding Officers.
Each senator-elect was called upon and a ballot paper given to him in the open. Thereafter he proceeded to the cubicle to cast his vote secretly before dropping the ballot paper in the ballot box in the open.
Winner of the exercise will emerge through a simple majority.
