Adequate arrangements were made for 98 Senators -elect at the National Collation Centre venue of the handing over of the Certificate of Return to the distinguished Senators – to – be. Each of them was allowed to come with two guests, a condition strictly adhered to by security agents right from the main gate of the International Conference Center, venue of the Collation Centre.

Fifty-seven members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) had won their seats on February 25th,this year during the Presidential and National Assembly election, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidates won 29 seats, Labour Party(LP) won six, Social Democratic Party (SDP) won two seats New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) won two seats, Young Progressives Party (YPP)had on seat and the All Progressives Grand Alliance won one seat.

Despite the importance attached to the Certificate of Return, not all the Senators – elect came to receive their certificates handed to them on a geo-political basis by the National Commissioners supervising the zones.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman , Prof. Mahmood Yakubu sat throughout the programme, he never said a word. When the national anthem was rendered to signify the close of the ceremony, he too got up and left through the backstage exit door.

Mr. Victor Aluko, Director, Voter Education at INEC , however directed Senators – elect who did not collect their Certificates to come to the headquarters of the Commission.

Labour Party (LP) Senator -Elect for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mrs Ireti Kingibe who is not an indigene of the FCT said a candidate’s tribe or religion doesn’t matter but their ability to perform in the task they are voted for. Her words: “Almost every Chairman in the FCT is an indigene. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how you represent yourself but who works for you.

“The Senator of the FCT is an indigene. He’s been there for 20 years. If they’re not adequately represented, it’s because of the calibre of people they take there, not the tribe that matters. A time must come in this country where your tribe does not matter. It’s your character. What can you do? Your capacity.”

Mrs Kingibe said while she is not an indigenes of the FCT, she has lived in the capital city long enough to know the problems of the people and how to address them. According to the 68 years old senator-elect, who claimed to have lived in the FCT since 1988, making the difference in service delivery and representation is her top priority.

“They’ll see a difference and know that it’s not the tribe of who represents you that matters but what the person is bringing to the table, what the person is willing to do that’s what matters most. And when Nigerians move away from tribe and religion to capacity. Then we would have arrived to be the nation that we should be,” she stressed.

Mrs Kingibe also promised to work with the FCT Minister as the representative of the people. “FCT is supposed to be treated like a state. It’s not a state but if certain policies are put in place, we can access all the things that other states do. Now, those policies have to be written and passed. Those are some of the things we are expected to do differently,” he said.

Senator Abba Moro, PDP, Benue South senatorial district said he was happy to be returning to the Senate despite all the odds. “We are migrating from the 9th to the 10th Senate. Those of you in the media, you know how far we have gone, what we need to do and what we have not done. For me, reelected, I have this responsibility to do better than we have done in the 9th Senate and that of course goes with selecting the leader. I have been talking to a few of my colleagues who have been re-elected and those who have just been elected and we have agreed that this time around, we’ll try and work very assiduously towards electing a more effective, more committed, more patriotic Senate President. We expect that even the phase we have gone through as a country.

“I want to believe that the outgoing Senate President is doing his utmost best, but I think we have to upgrade because Nigerians are expecting a lot from the Senate. The first area to upgrade is effective leadership, that is key to whatever we want to do. a Senate President that would work for Nigeria and for all Nigerians, a Senate President for the whole of Nigeria , not for a political party, I think that is the first thing we want to tackle here. that we would elect somebody that is Senate President for Nigeria”.

Asked where the Senate President should come from, he said “the constitution of political parties, especially that of the PDP I belong to has provision for zoning. I am not averse to zoning, but I want to assure you that the choice of leadership of the Senate, we’ll put everything about Nigeria into consideration, even when it is going to a particular zone, I want to assure you that all of us would be looking out for the best person that can give efficient leadership to the Senate, that will make the Senate do the biddings of Nigerians and the expectation of Nigerians”.

Senator – elect Emmanuel Udende, APC Benue East senatorial district said his main goal in the Senate would be to address the security challenge in the country. “With security, all other things are secondary”, he stressed.