The National Assembly elections (Senate and House of Representatives) were conducted on February 25, 2023. But only 98 out of 109 senate seats and 325 out of 360 seats for the House of Representatives have been declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). This is because elections were postponed in certain places, and some results were declared inconclusive.
Some of these places include: Enugu East, Kebbi North, Plateau Central, Sokoto North, South and East, Yobe South and Zamfara Central. The Commission announced that supplementary elections will be held in these regions after the governorship elections conducted on March 18, 2023, but a date hasn’t been announced yet.
However, on March 7, 2023, INEC released the names of the senators-elect for the tenth senate and here are some key things to note in the current senators-elect list:
Don’t hold your breath for gender inclusion
The 2023 elections had many turns, including almost giving us Nigeria’s first female elected governor, Aisha Binani. While we seem to have moved forward, the reality is different, as the incoming tenth National Assembly will only have three women in the Senate compared to the seven we have presently.
These women are Banigo Ipalibo Harry of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Adebule Idiat Oluranti of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Ireti Kingibe of the Labour Party.
The APC controls the Senate
The Senate has 109 seats, and in the elections, the APC won 57. The PDP won 29 seats, and the Labour Party 6.
The New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) and the Social Democratic Party (SDP) won two seats each, while the Young Progressives Party (YPP) and All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) had one seat each.
30 current lawmakers return to the Senate
In the National Assembly elections, 55 incumbent senators contested to retain their seats but only 30 won their re-election bids. Some prominent names are Orji Kalu, current Chief Whip of the Senate, Seriake Dickson, Danjuma Goje and Adamu Aliero.
Fewer ex-governors grace the Senate
It has become “normal” to see former Nigerian governors end their careers in the Senate. A fine example is the current National Assembly which consists of 17 ex-governors.
However, things will be different in the tenth National Assembly as there’ll be only 11 governors in the Senate. These governors are Godswill Akpabio, former governor of Akwa Ibom state; Seriake Dickson, former governor of Bayelsa state, Ibrahim Dankwambo, former governor of Gombe state; Aliero Adamu, former governor of Kebbi state; Gbenga Daniel, former governor of Ogun state, Ibrahim Shekarau, former governor of Kano state, Orji Uzor Kalu, former governor of Abia state, Adams Oshiomole, former governor of Edo state, Danjuma Goje, former governor of Gombe state, Abdul’aziz Yari, former governor of Zamfara state and Ibrahim Gaidam, former governor of Yobe state.
The tenth National Assembly is expected to be inaugurated on June 13, 2023, and hopefully, the legislative arm effectively serves and protects the interest of Nigerians for the next four years.
