Nigeria president-backed legislators elected leaders of parliament

By CHINEDU ASADU
Associated Press

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Nigeria’s ruling party has retained leadership of the country’s parliament with the election of its consensus candidates as Senate president and speaker of the House of Representatives. Godswill Akpabio was elected Senate president and Tajudeen Abbas became House speaker on Tuesday before members of parliament who won February elections were sworn into the chambers. Both had the backing of Nigeria’s new president, Bola Tinubu. Analysts expressed doubts that the new parliament would effectively serve as a check on the executive branch. Tinubu, Akpabio and Abbas all belong to the All Progressives Congress party, which retained a majority in both the House and the Senate.