Abiru, Dickson, two others take oaths as senators

By Sanni Onogu, Abuja

Senate President Ahmad Lawan on Tuesday swore in four senators who won the December 5, 2020 by-elections in four states across the country.

The senators won the by-election on the platforms of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The senators are: Michael Adetokunbo Abiru (APC Lagos East), Henry Seriake Dickson (PDP Bayelsa West), Cleopas Moses (PDP Bayelsa Central) and Nora Ladi Dadu’ut (APC Plateau South).

The Clerk to the Senate, Ibrahim El-Ladan, administered the Oaths of Office and Allegiance on the new senators.

The lawmakers were sworn in at exactly 11:04 a.m after the commencement of plenary.

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Abiru and Dadu’ut replaced the late Senators Sikiru Adebayo Osinowo and Ignatius Longjan, all APC chieftains.

Abiru, born on March 25, 1964, served as the Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Polaris Bank Limited until his resignation on August 24, 2020, to contest the Lagos East senatorial by-election on the platform of the APC.

He was also the Executive Director at First Bank Nigeria Limited from 2013 to 2016, and served as the Finance Commissioner in Lagos State, from 2011 to 2013 under former Governor Babatunde Fashola (SAN).

Professor Dadu’ut, born May 10, 1953, was the Head of French Department at the University of Jos (UNIJOS).

Addressing reporters after their swearing-in, Dickson and Abiru promised to collaborate with their colleagues to find lasting solution to the pervading insecurity in the land.

But the senator for Imo North and Cross River North, where by-elections were also conducted on December 5, 2020, by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), were not sworn in yesterday.

While the APC won the Imo North senatorial by-election by a yet-to-be-determined candidate, Dr. Stephen Odey of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was declared winner of the Cross River North Senatorial seat and issued the Certificate of Return by the INEC.

Odey was prevented from taking the Oath of Office and Oath of Allegiance on account of a court order served on the Senate few minutes before the swearing-in ceremony.