Ali Ndume, senator representing Borno south district, says President Bola Tinubu “sneaked out” to beg some lawmakers to support his preferred candidates for the 10th national assembly leadership positions.

Speaking on Tuesday in an interview with Channels Television, Ndume said the president deployed his “foot soldiers” to deliver his preferred candidates.

Earlier, Godswill Akpabio, the senator representing Akwa Ibom north-west, was elected senate president after polling 63 votes to defeat his challenger, Abdulaziz Yari, who scored 46 votes.

Barau Jibrin, a senator from Kano, was declared deputy senate president.

For the house of representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, a lawmaker representing Zaria constituency in Kaduna, was elected speaker, while Benjamin Kalu from Abia state, was declared deputy.

The new leaders of the national assembly got the backing of the national leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Tinubu.

Reacting to the development, Ndume said the president is an “experienced” politician, adding that he convinced many lawmakers to support his preferred candidates.

“When I contested last time (2019), everybody was on the other side because the party and president endorsed Ahmad Lawan,” he said.

“It is almost a repetition of the same thing, the party and the president had a preferred candidate but this president (Tinubu) is an experienced politician who has played a lot of politics.

“He deployed his foot soldiers to complement our (campaign team of Akpabio) efforts and that made a difference. The vice president assisted us.

“He called some people. He even went to some people. It is politics. He sneaked out to visit some people and begged them to support. He has his reasons and there were convincing.”