The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) is currently leading in the Senate, according to official results of the National Assembly election so far released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as of press time last night.
From the results, APC has 38 senatorial seats while the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has so far produced 21 senators. Labour Party has secured four seats in the Red Chamber while Social Democratic Party (SDP) has two.
The Young Progressives Party (YPP) and the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) have won one seat each.
These make up 67 senatorial seats whose results have been announced so far by the electoral body.
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With just 38 seats, it is not certain if the ruling APC will retain its majority in the 10th Senate.
For any party to have a majority in the Red Chamber, it must have at least two-thirds of the 109 seats, made up of three senators from each of the 36 states and one from the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Of the 66 seats so far declared, 18 senators were re-elected while the remaining are either first-timers or returning to the parliament after serving as federal lawmakers.
The 10th Senate would be inaugurated in June this year after the President of the Federal Republic has issued a proclamation. This will kick start the beginning of the four-year tenure of the 109 senators. Two among them will be elected as presiding officers, known as the president of the Senate and the deputy president of the Senate.
The two officers, who will preside over the affairs of the upper legislative house for the next four years, if they are not removed from office, would be picked among the senators of the majority party.
Ranking senators with years of legislative experience are given preference to contest for the seats of the presiding officers.
It is not clear if the incumbent Senate president, Ahmad Lawan, will retain the seat. Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom North West) and Orji Uzor Kalu of (Abia North) are said to be eyeing the coveted seat. Akpabio served as minority leader in the Eighth Senate.
The Senate standing order explains the eligibility criteria thus: “Nomination of senators to serve as presiding officers and appointments of principal officers and other officers of the Senate or on any parliamentary delegations shall be in accordance with the ranking of senators. In determining ranking, the following order shall apply: (i) Senators returning based on number of times re-elected; (ii) Senators who had been members of the House of Representatives; (iii) Senators elected as senators for the first time.”
Upsets and shocks
The National Assembly poll recorded twists and upsets as some ranking senators lost their return bid to the parliament.
Senator Bala Ibn Na’Allah of APC lost the Kebbi South senatorial election to the candidate of PDP, Garba Musa Maidoki.
The Returning Officer, Professor Ibrahim Muhammed, said the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, polled 75,232 votes to win the election against Na’Allah who polled 70,785 votes.
Na’Allah, a serving senator, was bidding for the Senate for the third time, having previously spent two terms at the lower chamber of the National Assembly.
He lost his senatorial reelection by a margin of 5,000 to the PDP candidate who contested the Senate election for the first time.
Also, a former Governor of Ebonyi State, Senator Sam Egwu, lost his bid to return to the Senate for a third term.
APC won all the National Assembly positions in Ebonyi North Senatorial District.
PDP’s Egwu, who is the incumbent senator, lost to a former state chairman of PDP, Barr. Peter Onyekachi Nwebonyi.
Nwebonyi scored a total of 65,863 votes, his closest opponent, Ejiofor Vincent Chukwu of Labour Party scored 42,283, while Egwu came a distant third with 26,569 votes.
A former Governor of Gombe State, Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo of PDP, defeated the incumbent, Senator Saidu Ahmed Alkali of APC, to win the Gombe North Senatorial District.
The Returning Officer, Professor Umaru Gurama, who announced the results, said Dankwambo polled 143,155 votes to defeat his closest rival, Senator Alkali, who scored 77,948 votes.
The election was a repeat of the 2019 contest when Senator Alkali defeated Dankwambo, who was then concluding his two-term tenure as governor of the state.
Kawu Sumaila ends Gaya’s 16-year reign
A former aide to President Buhari on National Assembly Matters (House of Representatives), Suleiman Abdurrahman Kawu Sumaila of NNPP, defeated Senator Kabiru Gaya of APC, ending the latter’s 16-year reign in the parliament as Kano South senator.
Sumaila polled 319,857 votes to defeat his rival Gaya, who scored 192,518, while Murtala Bashir Galadanci of the Peoples Democratic Party got 14,880 votes.
In Benue, APC senatorial candidate for Benue North East, Emmanuel Udende Tordwem, defeated PDP’s candidate Gabriel Suswam to clinch the seat.
Udende polled 141,405 votes to beat Suswam, a former governor, who garnered 103,303 votes.
Udende was a former House of Representatives member for Katsina Ala Ukum and Logo federal constituency.
Al-Makura ousted
A former Nasarawa Governor, Senator Umaru Tanko Al-Makura, lost his second term bid to represent Nasarawa South to the candidate of PDP, Mohammed Ogoshi Onawo.
The returning officer, Dr Ahmad Ashiku, who declared the results, said the PDP candidate polled 93,064 votes to defeat Al-Makura of the APC who garnered 76,813 votes to come second while Mohammed Agwai of NNPP got 30,640 votes.
In Ekiti South senatorial district, the incumbent senator, Biodun Olujimi, of the PDP lost her re-election bid to APC’s Yemi Adaramodu, who scored 63,189 votes against Olujimi’s 36,191 votes.
Lawan wins 7th parliamentary poll
Senate President Ahmad Lawan won the senatorial election for Yobe North.
He was formally declared winner by INEC which announced that Lawan polled 91,318 votes, representing 74.7 percent of the total valid votes (122,193), to defeat his closest rival, Bello Ilu of PDP who polled 22,849 votes.
This is the seventh parliamentary election won consecutively by Lawan into the National Assembly since 1999, the first two of which gave him a ticket to the House of Representatives while the last five gave him a ticket to the Senate.
Lawan’s re-election followed a long battle for APC’s Yobe North ticket with Bashir Machina.
Lawan had contested and lost the APC presidential ticket to former Lagos State governor, Bola Ahmed Tinubu in a presidential primary held in June 2022, after which he sought to grab the senatorial ticket from Machina, who had won the earlier senatorial primary held in Yobe.
Although the Senate President did not take part in the senatorial primary, the party had sent his name to INEC as the candidate, claiming that he won a fresh primary held June 9, 2022, a day after the party’s presidential primary in Abuja. The electoral body refused to acknowledge him.
The Supreme Court later affirmed Lawan’s candidacy and sacked Machina, who was earlier recognised by the Federal High Court in Damaturu and the Court of Appeal in Abuja.
Other serving senators so far re-elected are Barau Jibrin (Kano), Orji Uzor Kalu (Abia), Ishaku Elisha Cliff (Adamawa), Binos Yaroe (Adamawa), Ifeanyi Ubah (Anambra) Abba Moro (Benue), Michael Opeyemi Bamidele (Ekiti), Danjuma Goje (Gombe).
Others are Sadiq Umar (Kwara), Lola Ashiru (Kwara), Solomon Olamilekan Adeola (Ogun), Adetokunbo Abiru (Lagos), Godiya Akwashiki (Nasarawa), Mohammed Sani Musa (Niger), Francis Fadahunsi (Osun) and Abdulfatai Buhari (Oyo).
By Abdullateef Salau (Abuja), Umar Muhammed (Lafia), Hassan Ibrahim (Bauchi), Clement A. Oloyede (Kano), Nabob Ogbonna (Abakaliki), Abubakar Akote (Minna), Ismail Adebayo (Birnin Kebbi), Hope Abah Emmanuel (Makurdi), Haruna Gimba Yaya (Gombe) Linus Effiong (Umuahia), Meluwa Kelvin (Asaba) & Habibu I. Gimba (Damaturu)
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