Acting News Editor, ISHAYA IBRAHIM, looks at the shift in the leadership the National Assembly, and attempts a profile of select newcomers.
There are indications that the incoming National Assembly will be peopled by new faces, and a different leadership brand. This will, in many ways, mark a significant departure from what had appeared the trend since the institution of the current dispensation, 16 years ago.
Since 1999, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has held sway as the dominant party in the National Assembly. It provided leadership for both chambers (Senate and House of Representatives) save for the defection in October 2014 of House of Representatives Speaker, Aminu Tambuwal, to the All Progressives Congress (APC) which gave the opposition momentary leadership in the House.
The table has since turned with the March 28 general elections. In the new Senate, the APC clinched 62 seats from its previous 41. PDP is now left with 45 from its previous 64.
In the outgoing House of Representatives, the APC has 172. Its original membership was 135, but the defections of 37 PDP members in November 2013 to the APC swelled its rank and gave it a one margin lead against the PDP which has 171 members.
In the incoming House of Representatives, the APC will firmly be in control as the majority party has over 214 members. There are a total of 360 seats in the second chamber of the National Assembly. The PDP has 125 lawmakers while other parties have 21.
When the new Senate resumes on June 4 to elect its leadership, only about 33 old faces will be present. Seventy-six others who make up the 109 Senate membership will be absent. A few of them did not seek re-election while many lost out in the actual senatorial contest. But fundamentally, the Senate leadership will change.
Mark leaves the dais
Though Senate President David Mark will be present at the new Senate when it is inaugurated, he would cease to be its president. Mark, who represents Benue South, won re-election for the fifth time, having been first elected in 1999. He has been Senate president for eight years and might have retained the seat for the next four years if PDP had won the presidency. But since his party performed relatively poorly and President Goodluck Jonathan failed to return to Aso Rock, Mark will end up a floor member.
Some new faces in the Red Chamber
Some of the 76 new faces that will start to learn the ropes in the upper house include:
Jang
Plateau State Governor, Jonah Jang, made it to the Senate, with the PDP losing the state’s governorship election. Simon Lalong of the APC defeated Jang’s anointed candidate who happens to be his nephew, Senator Gyang Pwajok. Before the election, opinion poll had shown that the people of Plateau, politically inclined to the PDP, were disenchanted with Jang’s ambition to swap offices with Pwajok, who represents Plateau North. Jang succeeded in replacing Pwajok in the Senate. But Pwajok’s governorship ambition was aborted by the Plateau electorate who felt that the governor was taking his alleged clannish politics too far.
Ekwunife
Before the March 28 national elections, Chris Ngige of the APC and Victor Umeh of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) were the two contenders favoured to win the Anambra Central Senatorial Zone. Little chance was given to the PDP, which presented Uche Ekwunife as its candidate.
However, Ekwunife shocked bookmakers when she was declared winner, beating the two men. From the House of Representatives, where she had represented Njikoka Federal Constituency initially on the platform of APGA before defecting to PDP, she will be heading for the Red Chambers for the first time.
Sani
Shehu Sani, a human rights activist based in Kaduna, will be making his debut in the Senate. He won the Kaduna Central senatorial seat by defeating his challenger, Ahmed Aruwa of the PDP. Aruwa was a senator between 1999 and 2003 on the platform of the defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP).
Sani said after winning the election: “The Senate in the last 16 years portrayed an image of a sleepy and boring theatre of spent forces, political pensioners, choristers and refuge for ex-governors. This too must change. The new Senate must reflect the new spirit and the new order. The parliament must be fumigated of its ‘David Markist’ past and be cleansed of its lickspittle stigma.” There are high expectations from the activist that many see as an advocate of the poor and downtrodden.
Hunkuyi
The Senate will be missing the cerebral Ahmed Makarfi, the PDP senator representing Kaduna North. He will be replaced by Suleiman Hunkuyi of the APC who served as commissioner in Kaduna State between 1999 and 2007 when Makarfi was governor.
Hunkuyi secured 447,919 votes to defeat his former boss, who had 136,197 votes.
Adeola
Solomon Adeola, popularly known as Yayi, moves to the Senate from the House of Representatives to represent Lagos West. He defeated Segun Adewale in a contest that witnessed robust campaigning, elaborate poster display and sharing of gifts including smartphones. Before the poll, pundits had given it to Adeola due largely to his creative campaigns. It was the second time Adeola was beating Adewale. The first was in 2011 when both men vied for the Ifako Ijaiye federal constituency slot in the House of Representatives.
Adeola is the new face among the three senators in Lagos State. The other two, Senator Oluremi Tinubu (Lagos Central) and Gbenga Ashafa (Lagos East) have been in the Senate since 2011.
Murray-Bruce
Showbiz maestro, Ben Murray-Bruce, makes it to the Senate for the first time. He will be representing Bayelsa East. He contested against former governor, Timipre Sylva of the APC. Entertainment may get a voice with Murray-Bruce’s membership of the Senate.
Kashamu
Billionaire politician, Buruji Kashamu, heads for the Senate for the first time to represent Ogun East after many years of funding other politicians. He displaces Senator Gbenga Kaka of the Social Democratic Party (PDP). Kaka had defected from the APC to the SDP last year along with former Governor Segun Osoba.
Effiong
Nelson Effiong, former Speaker of the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly, made it to the Senate for the first time. He will be representing Eket (Akwa Ibom South) Senatorial District. Effiong was Governor Goodswill Akpabio’s campaign backbone and helped win the governorship election for Akpabio’s anointed candidate, Udom Emmanuel.
Owan-Enoh
In Cross River Central, John Owan-Enoh steps in. He is replacing Victor Ndoma-Egba, the Majority Leader in the Senate who failed to stage a comeback to the Senate in the PDP primaries.
Akpabio
Godswill Akpabio is one of the few governors that made it to the Senate. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared him winner of the election to represent Akwa Ibom North West, with 422,009 of the 439,449 votes to defeat Inibehe Okorie of the APC who recorded a paltry 15,152 votes.
Many found the margin of defeat and voter turn-out in Akpabio’s constituency, which is more than 90 per cent, astonishing. One blogger wrote: “You can bet me that voter turn-out in the whole of Akwa Ibom will not approximate this fat figure were card-readers used.”
His colleagues – Saidu Dakingari (Kebbi), Babangida Aliyu (Niger), Isa Yuguda (Bauchi) and Gabriel Suswam (Benue) – could not make it. Emmanuel Uduaghan (Delta) and Sullivan Chime (Enugu), who initially nursed the idea, had their dreams aborted at infancy due to intra-party developments that trailed the PDP primaries.
Kwankwaso
Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso won the Kano Central Senatorial District. Kwankwaso, who contested on the platform of APC, aborted the dream of the incumbent Senator Bashir Lado of the PDP who had sought re-election. The governor scored 758,383 votes to defeat Lado who got 205,809 votes in the contest. He joins Akpabio and Governor Theodore Orji as few of the outgoing governors who are making it to the Senate.
