NIGERIA’S first parliament in more than 15 years opened Thursday in Abuja, electing a former state governor from southeast Nigeria to the country’s third-highest ranking constitutional position. The 109-member Senate and 360-member House of Representatives, elected in landmark polls in February, were declared opened by the clerks of the two assemblies. The upper chamber elected Senator Evans Enwerem as Senate president. The post is the third-ranked in the Nigerian political system and Enwerem was reportedly the candidate favoured by new Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo. Obasanjo is due to address the two chambers in a first joint session Friday amid speculation he will use the occasion to unveil his ministerial list.