NASS Members Who Won’t Return

Going by the final list of cleared candidates recently released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), 128 out of 360 members of the House of Representatives won’t be returning.

This figure represents 35.6% of the total number of members in the Green chamber.

For the Senate, 42 senators representing 38.05% of the 109 members have been ruled out of the 9th assembly.

Currently, in states like Zamfara and Rivers, the All Progressives Congress (APC) does not have the names of their candidates on the list as released by INEC, apparently in abeyance to a court order. This is somewhat of an automatic disqualification for APC lawmakers from these two states.

Kaduna State is in the lead with eight lawmakers followed by Katsina and Osun States with seven members respectively that will not return to the House of Representatives in the 9th assembly.

However, Abia, Ebonyi, Edo, FCT and Taraba have just a member each not returning to Abuja.

In terms of the party with highest number of lawmakers who lost their tickets, the APC has 75; the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) with 50; and the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Allied Peoples Movement (APM) and Action Democratic Congress (ADC) have a member each not returning.

For the senate, the non-returnees across party lines are distributed thus: APC 19, PDP, 16 and ADC with just 1.

Below are some of the House members who are certainly not returning in 2019 for various reasons.

 

ABIA

In Abia, the member representing Bende federal constituency, Nnenna Elendu-Ukeje, is not returning to the house as she did not clinch the ticket of the PDP in the last election.

 

ADAMAWA

Three out of the eight House of Representatives members from the state are not returning.

Out of the three, two lost the APC primary while the third contested for the Senate but failed to clinch the ticket.

The two lawmakers who lost the primary are Shuaibu Abdulrahman and Abubakar Lawal. Their colleague Adamu Kamale contested for the Senate and lost.

 

AKWA IBOM

Two out of the 10 federal lawmakers from Akwa Ibom lost their party primaries and will not return.

The lawmakers are Samuel Ikon and Owoidighe Ekpoatai.

 

BAUCHI

Three out of 12 House members form the North-Eastern state are not returning to the next assembly.

They are Shehu Aliyu, Haliru Jika and Adamu Gurai.

While Messrs Aliyu and Gurai lost out in their various party primaries, Mr Jika was able to clinch the ticket to contest for the senatorial election. He is expected to challenge the serving senator, Isa Missau.

 

BAYELSA

The oil rich south-south state has one Rep member who will not return.

The lawmaker, Sodagumo Omoni, who represents Ogbia federal constituency, lost the PDP primary.

 

BENUE

Five of the 11 House of Representatives members from Benue are not returning to the next assembly.

The lawmakers are Emmanuel Orker-Jev, Dickson Tackighir, Saleh Hassan, Emmanuel Udende and Ezekiel Adaji.

While Mr Orker-Jev is flying the flag of the PDP in a senatorial election, the others lost their respective primaries.

 

 

BORNO

Three of the 10 House of Reps members are not returning to the House over their failure to get nomination of their parties

The lawmakers are Asabe Vilita, Muhammed Sheriff and Ayuba Bello.

 

DELTA

Three out of the 10 House of Representatives members of Delta state are not returning to the ninth assembly having lost their party primaries.

The lawmakers are: Onyemaecho Mrakpor, Idisi Lovette and Daniel Reyanju.

 

EBONYI

One out of the six lawmakers from Ebonyi is certainly not returning to the ninth assembly.

The lawmaker, Linus Okorie, who represents Ivo/Ohaozara/Onicha federal constituency, failed to clinch a return ticket.

 

EDO

The case of the Edo lawmaker is quite different from the norm.

The House deputy whip, Pally Iriase, is not returning in 2019 because he did not contest the elections due to local arrangements in his constituency.

 

EKITI

One lawmaker from Ekiti state won’t make it to the next assembly.

 

The lawmaker, Olamide Johnson, who represents Ijero/Ekiti West/Efon federal constituency, failed to secure a return ticket in the last primary.

 

ENUGU

Just like Ekiti, one lawmaker from Enugu state is confirmed as not returning in 2019.

The lawmaker, Chukwuemeka Ujam, who is a first timer representing Nkanu East/West, failed to secure a return ticket.

 

FCT

The two members from the FCT are not returning in the ninth assembly.

The lawmakers are Zephaniah Jisalo and Zakari Angulu, who both contested the FCT senate primary. It is still not clear who is flying the party ticket to challenge Philip Aduda of the PDP.

 

GOMBE

Two out of the six lawmakers in Gombe state are not returning to the House of Representatives in 2019.

Binta Bello, the deputy minority whip, was able to clinch the PDP ticket for Gombe South Senatorial district while Samaila Kashena lost out in the primary.

 

IMO

Two out of the 10 House of Representatives members from Imo are not returning to the house for the same reason.

The two lawmakers, Chukwukere Austin and Goodluck Opiah, lost out in their party primary.

 

JIGAWA

In Jigawa, three of the 11 federal lawmakers are not returning in 2019 after failing to secure return tickets.

The lawmakers are Sani Zorro, Rabiu Kaugama and Muhammed Boyi.

 

KADUNA

Of the thirty six states and FCT, Kaduna has the highest number of Rep members who are not returning in the 9th assembly.

The seven lawmakers are Adams Jagaba, Muhammad Soba, Sunday Marshal, Muhammed Abubakar, Yusuf Bala, Mohammed Usman and Lawal Rabiu.

Mr. Jagaba lost in the PDP Kaduna South primary while Mr Marshal was picked as a runningmate of the governorship candidate of the PDP, Isa Ashiru.

The rest lost out in the primary.

 

KANO

Four out of the 24 members of the Kano state caucus of the House of Representatives, are not returning to the house.

The four are Aliyu Madaki who is the PDP candidate for Kano Central Senatorial district, Bashir Baballe who did not contest for any election and Nasiru Baballe and Mukhtar Chiromawa who lost their respective party primary.

 

KATSINA

So far, only one member of the House of Representatives from Katsina is not returning to the next assembly.

The lawmaker, Aliyu Sani, lost in the just concluded APC primary.

 

KOGI

In Kogi State, it is so far clear that one lawmaker is certainly not returning in 2019.

The lawmaker, Sunday Karimi, contested for the senatorial ticket of Kogi west under PDP but lost to Dino Melaye.

 

KWARA

Out of the six lawmakers from Kwara, three are confirmed as not coming back to the 9th assembly.

The lawmakers are Razak Atunwa who is flying the ticket of the PDP for the Governorship election, Zakari Mohammed who is also flying the PDP ticket for Kwara North Senatorial district and Amuda Kanike who did not contest the primary.

 

LAGOS

Six out of the 24 Lagos federal lawmakers are not returning to the House of Representatives in 2019.

The lawmakers are Tony Nwulu, Adaranijo Abiodun, Joseph Adebayo, Bamgbose Joseph and Diya Babafemi.

Apart from Tony Nwulu who is contesting for Imo Governorship election under the United People’s Party (UPP), the rest failed to secure a return ticket to the House.

 

NASARAWA

Out of the five lawmakers from Nasarawa State, only two may likely return to the house in the next assembly.

The other three lawmakers who are not returning are David Ombugadu, Mohammed Onawo and Jaafar Ibrahim.

Mr. Ombugadu is flying the PDP flag in the upcoming general elections while he is being deputized by Mr. Onawo. The third lawmaker, Jaafar Ibrahim lost in his bid to clinch the APC Governorship ticket.

 

NIGER

Despite the controversies in Niger State, PREMIUM TIMES has been able to confirm that three lawmakers from the state are not returning in 2019.

The lawmakers are Adamu Chika, Faruk Mihammadu and Saleh Shehu who failed to secure a return ticket.

 

OGUN

Two lawmakers from Ogun State failed to secure their tickets back to the House.

The lawmakers are Olusegun Williams and Kehinde Olusegun.

 

ONDO

Out of the nine lawmakers from Ondo state, three of them are confirmed not to be coming back in the ninth assembly due to their inability to get a return ticket to the House.

The lawmakers are Babatunde Kolawole, Baderinwa Samson and Akinfolarin Mayowa.

 

OSUN

In Osun state, the deputy speaker, Yusuf Lasun, is not returning in the ninth assembly.

He did not contest the House of Representatives primary.

He contested the just concluded governorship primary of the APC but lost to Gboyega Isyaka, the governor-elect.

 

OYO

Two lawmakers from Oyo are not returning in 2019 because they failed to secure their party nomination.

The lawmakers are Ayoade Ojoawo and Oladele George.

 

PLATEAU

In Plateau state, two of its members contested for senatorial primary while one lost in his bid to secure the ticket of the House of Representatives.

Edward Pwajok who is the House chairman on rules and business, contested and lost the APC senatorial primary for Plateau North while his counterpart Istifanus Gyang is flying the PDP ticket for Plateau North.

Suleiman Yahaya-Kwande lost out in his bid to return for the third term in the House of Representatives.

 

RIVERS

Two members have so far been confirmed in Rivers as not returning in 2019.

The lawmakers are Chidi Frank who lost in the primary and Betty Apiafi who is a senatorial candidate.

 

TARABA

Just one member has been confirmed as not returning in 2019 due to his inability to secure his party ticket.

The lawmaker, Malle Ibrahim represents Jalingo/Yorro/Zing federal constituency.

 

YOBE

In Yobe, the member representing Fika/Fune federal constituency, Ismail Gadaka, will not be returning in the ninth assembly for his inability to secure his party ticket.

 

ZAMFARA

Baring any last minute change, all the APC members from Zamfara will not be returning in 2019 due to INEC’s decision to reject any list from Zamfara APC.

The APC in Zamfara, according to INEC, cannot submit any list of candidates because it failed to conduct primaries within the stipulated time.

In the meantime, about 42 of the 109 serving senators, representing 38.5 per cent will not be returning to the Upper Legislative Chamber due to their inability to secure return tickets in their various political parties. The remaining sixty-seven of the 109 serving senators, representing 61.5% that secured return tickets from their parties, may not scale the final hurdle of return bid on the day of the Presidential and National Assembly elections.

While most of the senators from both the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that failed to secure tickets back to the apex chamber, voluntarily withdrew from contesting the primaries, some opted for governorship tickets of their parties and others contested for return tickets but failed.  Those who will be missing include the former governor of Plateau state , Joshua Dariye, because he is currently serving a 14-year jail term.  Others are: Gbenga Ashafa (APC, Lagos East), Lanre Tejuoso (APC, Ogun Central), Fatima Raji Rasaki (APC, Ekiti Central), Sola Adeyeye (APC, Osun Central) and Babajide Omoworare (APC, Osun East). Others are: Gilbert Nnaji (PDP, Enugu East), Emmanuel Paulker (PDP, Bayelsa Central), Ben Murray Bruce (PDP Bayelsa West), Fosta Ogola (PDP, Bayelsa South), Ahmed Abubakar (APC Adamawa South), Rafiu Ibrahim (PDP, Kwara South), Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi (APC, Niger North) and David Umoru (APC Niger East)

Also among those not returning to Senate in 2019 are: Senators Ahmed Sani Yerima (APC, Zamfara East), Bukkar Abba Ibrahim (APC, Yobe East), Abu Ibrahim (APC, Katsina South), Abubakar Kyari (APC, Borno North), Buruji Kashamu (PDP, Ogun East), and Kaka Gabbai (APC, Borno Central). Others are: Jonah Jang (PDP, Plateau North), Jeremiah Useni (PDP, Plateau South), David Mark (PDP, Benue South), Philip Gyunka (PDP, Nasarawa North), Sam Anyanwu (PDP, Imo East), Abdulaziz Murtala Nyako (APC Adamawa Central) and Usman Bayero Nafada (PDP Gombe North).

Also in the category are: Kabiru Marafa (APC, Zamfara Central), Shaaba Lafiagi (PDP, Kwara North), Ademola Adeleke (PDP, Osun West), Sonny Ogborji (APC, Ebonyi South), John Enoh (APC, Cross Rivers Central), Gbolahan Dada (APC, Ogun West) and Hope Uzodimma (APC, Imo West).

Senators Enoh, Ogborji, Nyako and Useni are now governorship candidates in Cross River, Ebonyi, Adamawa and Plateau states respectively.