Lalong will be required to quit his membership in Tinubu’s cabinet in order to be sworn in as senator.
By Jeffrey Agbo
There are indications that the former governor of Plateau State, Simon Lalong, may quit President Bola Tinubu’s cabinet after receiving his certificate of return as senator-elect for Plateau South in the 10th National Assembly.
A National Commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mohammed Haruna, presented the certificate to Lalong at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja on Thursday.
The ex-governor was one of the seven then-outgoing governors who lost their senatorial elections in the February 25 National Assembly polls.
The 60-year-old, a former Director General of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council (PCC), scored 91,674 votes at the poll while Napoleon Bali of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) got 148,844 votes among other candidates.
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After his defeat, the ex-governor was appointed Minister of Labour and Employment by President Tinubu.
However, earlier in November, the Court of Appeal in Abuja nullified the participation of the PDP and Bali in the election over failure to carry out lawful order of court.
A three-member panel led by Justice Elfreda Williams-Dawodu declared as unlawful and wasted votes cast for PDP in the election and declared Lalong as winner of the poll.
Lalong will be required to quit his membership in Tinubu’s cabinet in order to be sworn in as senator.
In the recent past, some members of the 10th National Assembly resigned to join Tinubu’s cabinet. They include Minister of Works, Dave Umahi; and the President’s Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila.