About 20 senators and 252 members of the
House of Representatives may not return to the National Assembly in
2019, investigations by Saturday PUNCH have revealed.
Majority of
the affected lawmakers are members of the ruling All Progressives
Congress and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, who lost the
ticket to return to NASS at the recently concluded primary elections by
the various political parties.
Findings also showed some of the
affected lawmakers withdrew from the race to pursue governorship tickets
in their states while some pulled out of the race for personal reasons.
While
some of the primaries are still marred in controversies, some of the
lawmakers are still hopeful of getting a ticket through negotiations.
Those
who have lost senatorial tickets include the Chairman, Senate Committee
on Media and Public Affairs, Aliyu Sabi-Abdullahi (Niger State), David
Umaru (Niger State), Fatimah Raji-Rasaki (Ekiti State), Gbenga Ashafa
(Lagos State) and Ibrahim Kurfi (Katsina State).
Also, senators
who lost their governorship bid are Baba Kaka Garbai (Borno State),
Kabiru Marafa (Zamfara State), Abubakar Kyari (Borno State), Shaaba
Lafiagi (Kwara State) and Sam Anyanwu (Imo State). While those who won
governorship tickets in their states were Sunny Ogbuoji (Ebonyi State),
John Enoh (Cross River State) and Jeremiah Useni (Plateau State).
Those
who withdrew from the race for the legislative chamber were Senator
Adesoji Akanbi (Oyo State); Senator Ben Murray-Bruce (Bayelsa State);
three-term Senator Bukar Abba Ibrahim (Yobe State) and Senators Gbolahan
Dada (Ogun State) and David Mark (Benue State).
There are also
senators whose fate is hanging in the balance as controversies are still
trailing their candidacy and some have become a subject of litigation.
In this category are Senators Shehu Sani (Kaduna State), Lanre Tejuoso
(Ogun State) and Magnus Abe (Rivers State).
Senator Jonah Jang
from Plateau State lost his presidential bid while another senator from
Plateau State, Joshua Dariye, is currently serving a jail term for
corruption.
Speaking with one of our correspondents, Tejuoso said
he would only abide by the product of a due process as far as primaries
and tickets were concerned in Ogun APC.
Asked if he was
comfortable with the process, he said, “What does the Constitution say?
Who is supposed to conduct and supervise primaries? Whatever is legal
and whatever is in the constitution of the party is what we will
support.”
Also, when contacted, Sani declined to speak on the
controversy surrounding APC’s Kaduna Central ticket, while Anyanwu
described the primary in the state as a charade. Marafa, on the other
hand, had briefed journalists on Thursday in Abuja on his readiness to
form an alliance with another party for the polls.
Meanwhile, in
the House of Representatives, the 252 members that couldn’t get a ticket
represent 70 per cent of the total number of 360 lawmakers in the
House.
Findings also showed that a few of them would not return
on account of seeking for other political offices, like the senate.
There were also those who didn’t bother buying forms. However, majority
of the members failed to scale through the primaries.
It was,
however, gathered that the leadership of the House had been under
pressure to intervene on behalf of many of the members.
Some of
those who may not return include the Deputy Speaker of the House, Mr.
Yussuff Lasun, who contested the governorship primary election in Osun
State but lost at the primary. Thus, he didn’t contest the House of
Representatives primary of the APC.
Others are the Deputy
Minority Whip of the House, Mrs Binta Bello; a member of the PDP from
Gombe State, Mr. Orker Jev; a PDP member from Benue State, Mr Zakari
Mohammed; Mrs Betty Apiafi, and Ms Evelyn Oboro, all of whom won
senatorial tickets in their states. Mr. Razak Atunwa, on the other
hand, won the governorship ticket in Kwara State.
Furthermore,
the Deputy House Majority Whip, Mr. Pally Iriase, did not contest the
Edo State APC primary to return in 2019, while majority of members, who
either lost or withdrew from the primary, included seven out of the 18
APC members in Lagos State, who are already out.
Among the other
popular lawmakers who lost was Ms. Nnenna Ukeje (Abia State), who lost
to Chief Chima Anyanso by 12 votes. She had since congratulated the
winner.
In Kano State, several of the lawmakers also lost, but,
the Chief Whip, Mr Alhassan Ado-Doguwa, won a return ticket. Other
losers include Mr Dickson Tarkighir (APC, Benue); Mr. Hassan Saleh (PDP,
Benue); Mr Sunday Karimi (PDP, Kogi); Mr Emmanuel Udende (APC, Benue);
and Mr Emeka Ujam (Enugu State).
When contacted, the Chairman,
House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Mr Abdulrazak Namdas,
denied that the non-returning members were up to 252.
