Two lawyers yesterday described as constitutional Tuesday's National Assembly elections that saw the emergence of Bukola Saraki and Yakubu Dogara as Senate President and Speaker.

Constitutional lawyers Norrison Quakers (SAN) and Fred Agbaje said the lawmakers complied with constitutional provisions in selecting their leaders.

They argued that in line with Section 50 and 52 of the Constitution, the procedure for selecting the leadership of the National Assembly are unambiguous. According to Quakers, the APC should accept the outcome of the elections and work with the Saraki-led Senate because his emergence is valid and constitutional. Citing Sections 50 (1), 52 (1) and 52 (2) of the Constitution, Quakers said:

"Once Senate is convened, members appoint their President and Deputy before the Oath of Allegiance and Oath of Office is administered to any member. This is because the constitution states that the members will each take their Oath of Allegiance and Oath of Office before the Senate President or Speaker of the House.

"The issue of quorum does not even arise because it comes to play after the NASS has been properly constituted.

"The APC should know that what it is trying to do is political suicide. The argument of disenfranchisement does not hold water. There is nothing in the constitution that says all the members must be present during the election.

"APC should embrace the outcome of the process because any step taken will be contrary to the constitution. The entire process was also carried out by the Clerk of the National Assembly and followed the laws accordingly."

Agbaje described the poll as the best thing that could have happened in the nation's democracy.

He said the process was constitutional because the legislators took charge of the process of electing their leaders without external influence.

"What happened is in clear tandem with Sections 50 of the constituion, which enjoins members of the NASS to elect among themselves, their leaders. The constitution did not say leaders of the Assembly should be selected from outside. "Provided the elections took place within the walls of the NASS and by the members themselves, it is constitutionally sanctioned.

"Therefore, what the party ought to have done was to lobby the members long before the election. Lobbying is not illegal, it is a part of democracy.

"But APC was rather carried away by the euphoria of victory and refused to lobby lawmakers to support the party's candidates.

"APC must accept the incontrovertible verdict of the NASS as exemplified in the election of leaders of the two Houses.

"Who asked the absent Senators not to be in the House? Why did they choose an important day as that to be distracted?"

Also the Senator representing Cross River South, Geshorm Bassey said the inauguration of Eight National Assembly had the full blessing of President Muhammadu Buhari.

Bassey spoke to journalists in Abuja on the controversy trailing the election of the presiding officers of the Senate.

He said that since President Buhari issued the proclamation memo, the Clerk was right to inaugurate the Senate.

He said: "You know the President signed the proclamation and in the proclamation which was read to us, it was actually the President that convened the Senate by signing a proclamation.

"Everybody knows that it was going to start at 10 am and the President himself had asked us to start at that time. So, I think that a proclamation was superior to any other thing messages.

"I think a proclamation that was signed by our president is superior to any other message.

"You know, once you enter the Senate chamber, a lot of party considerations are secondary.

"What we did yesterday (Tuesday) was to consider the interest of the nation. Some people may be upset, some people may not be happy about it but that also is democracy."

Senator Shehu Sani said that what transpired on the floor of the Senate on Tuesday may be a true reflection of a brewing crisis in the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Sani noted that that if the party is unable to manage its electoral victory, the country may be heading for a major crisis.

The Kaduna Central lawmaker said that he has no problem as an APC member for an APC person to occupy the office of the Senate President, but has problem with the party sharing positions with the PDP.

Sani, who is a member of the Senate Unity Forum, was of the view that the inauguration of the Eight Senate was constitutional.

He noted that the inauguration had been done and cannot be canceled, saying that it is left for those that felt aggrieved to go to court. Sani also urged Buhari to take steps to heal the wounds within the two factions and bring them together.