After Many Years at the National Assembly, Ekweremadu, Dogara, others May not Return to Either Red or Green Chamber

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Many ranking lawmakers who have spent over a decade each in the National Assembly will not be returning in 2023 when the 10th Assembly will be constituted, Daily Trust reports.

While some of them, both in the Senate and House of Representatives, are aspiring for other elective positions, some failed to secure the tickets of their parties to re-contest parliamentary elections, while others chose not to seek re-election based on the political exigencies they found themselves in.

Prominent among such lawmakers in the senate are James Manager, Ike Ekweremadu, Eyinanya Abaribe, Ahmad Lawan and Oluremi Tinubu.

In the House of Representatives, there are a former Speaker, Yakubu Dogara; Deputy Minority Leader, Toby Okechukwu; Ossai Nicholas Ossai; Herman Hembe; Pat Asadu; among others.

James Manager (Delta)

Senator Manager served as the Delta State Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from 1998 to 1999, then as Commissioner for Works, Housing and Transport from 1999 to 2003.

He was first elected as a senator in 2003, and since then he has been representing Delta South. By 2023, he would have spent 20 years in the red chamber.

Manager, who is fondly called the “indigene” of the senate for his long stint in the parliament, is among the lawmakers who will quit the National Assembly in 2023.

He picked the PDP nomination forms for Delta governorship but lost the ticket to the Speaker of the state assembly, Hon Sheriff Francis Oborevwori.

Manager secured 83 votes out of a total of 824 ballots cast by delegates in the primary held on Wednesday.

Ike Ekweremadu (Enugu)

 

Ekweremadu is not returning to the National Assembly in 2023 after a 20-year sojourn. He has been representing Enugu West since 2003. He replaced Senator Ibrahim Mantu as Deputy Senate President in 2007; an office he occupied for eight years.

In 2011, he was elected First Deputy Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament. Thereafter, in the same year, Ekweremadu was elected Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament.

He declared for the Enugu governorship seat in early March, 2023, and obtained the PDP nomination forms to contest the party’s ticket. However, he announced his withdrawal from the race on the day of the party’s primary; citing manipulation of the delegates’ list.

He urged his supporters to remain peaceful and assured that they would be updated on his next political move.

Enyinnaya Abaribe (Abia)

Abaribe, the Senate Minority Leader, has been in the senate since 2007; representing Abia South. He is among lawmakers in the Ninth National Assembly aspiring to switch to the executive arm of government as governor.

However, political calculations in his Abia State did not favour him as the PDP zoned its governorship ticket to Abia Central and Abia North.

The Governor, Okezie Ikpeazu, who is completing his second term in office in 2023, hails from Abia South, as Mr Abaribe.

Abaribe dumped the PDP and withdrew from the Abia governorship race less than 24 hours to the party’s primary. He joined APGA and has been offered the party’s senatorial ticket. He will slug it out with Ikpeazu, PDP’s senatorial candidate for Abia South.

Ahmad Lawan (Yobe)

Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, has been in the National Assembly since 1999. He switched to the senate in 2007 after serving two terms in the House of Representatives.

Lawan is a frontline presidential aspirant in the APC and has been crisscrossing the country to seek the support of delegates.

It is not certain if Lawan will return to the senate in 2023, though he is reported to have also picked senatorial forms as plan B in the event that he loses the APC presidential ticket.

Oluremi Tinubu (Lagos)

Aspirants have been jostling to replace Senator Oluremi Tinubu who is set to leave the senate following the move by her husband, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to contest the presidential election.

In June, 2023, when the Ninth Senate will wind down, Oluremi would have spent 12 years in the parliament as senator representing Lagos Central.

Her predecessors in the district and colleagues from the other two districts – Lagos East and West – served one or two terms each.

Yakubu Dogara (Bauchi)

Former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, is a one of the very ranking lawmakers who will not be returning to the National Assembly in 2023.

Findings by Daily Trust indicate that Dogara will not be returning to the National Assembly in 2023 as he is not seeking any position in the parliament in the next general elections.

The Director General of his campaign organisation, Muhammad Sadiq, said Dogara was not contesting for any position in 2023.

Dogara, who represents Bogoro/Dass/Tafawa Balewa Federal Constituency of Bauchi State, was first elected to the House of Representatives in 2007, and has been in the House since then.

He was Speaker of the House of Representatives between 2015 and 2019. He would have spent 15 years in the parliament by the end of the life of the Ninth Assembly in June, 2023.

A Federal High Court in Abuja had on April 22, sacked Dogara and declared his seat vacant following his defection to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) from the PDP. He has since appealed the judgment.

In his almost 15-year sojourn in the house, Dogara, besides serving as speaker, headed various standing and ad hoc committees of the house.

Toby Okechukwu

Notable among the ranking lawmakers who may not return to the parliament is the House of Representatives Deputy Minority Leader, Toby Okechukwu (Oji River/Awgu/Aninri-Enugu State). The lawmaker who has been in the house since 2011 lost his return bid during the just concluded PDP primaries.

The party’s ticket for Okechukwu’s seat was won by Anayo Onwuegbu, with Okechukwu condemning and rejecting the process. So except he is able to regain the ticket through the court, Okechukwu will be one of the lawmakers who will be missing in the parliament in 2023.

Pat Asadu

Another ranking lawmaker who may be missing in the 10th National Assembly is Pat Asadu who represents Nsukka/Igbo-Eze South Federal Constituency of Enugu State.

Asadu, a fourth term lawmaker seeking a return ticket for the fifth time, lost to a former Chairman of the PDP in the state, Engr Vitta Abba. The medical doctor’s loss came amid opposition to his fifth term bid, especially from the people of Nsukka Local Government Area.

Ossai Nicholas Ossai

Another ranking lawmaker who may not make it back to the House of Representatives in the 10th Assembly is a third term member representing Ndokwa/Ukwuani Federal Constituency of Delta State, Ossai Nicholas Ossai, who lost his bid to clinch the ticket of the PDP.

Ossai scored 24 votes, while Nnamdi Ezechi, a commissioner representing the Ndokwa Nation on the board of the Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (DESOPADEC), polled 44 votes to win the ticket.

Herman Hembe

Herman Hembe, who represents Jechira Federal Constituency of Benue State which comprises Konshisha and Vandeikya LGAs, may not be returning to the National Assembly in 2023.

The third term lawmaker has opted to seek a higher position by contesting the governorship in Benue State on the platform of the APC.

Hembe, who would have spent 12 years in the National Assembly by the end of the life of the Ninth Assembly, would also be among lawmakers that would be missing in the 10th Assembly.

Other lawmakers who lost return bid

Aside the ranking lawmakers who will not be returning to the National Assembly, more than 20 other lawmakers in both chambers have lost their return bids to the National Assembly.

While some withdrew from the race before party primaries, others failed to secure the senatorial and House of Representatives tickets.

Senators who either lost out or withdrew from the race are Adamu Aliero (Kebbi), Francis Alimikhena (Edo), Matthew Urhoghide (Edo), Ayo Akinyelure (Ondo), Nicholas Tofowomo (Ondo), Ignatius Gyang (Plateau), Bulus K. Amos (Gombe) and Moses Cleopas (Bayelsa), Smart Adeyemi and Yakubu Oseni (Kogi), Saabi (Niger)

In the House of Representatives, they are Mark Gbillah (Benue), Francis Ottah Agbo (Benue), Kpam Sokpo (Benue), Pat Asadu (Enugu), Chisom Dike (Rivers), Ephraim Nwuzi (Rivers), Ken Chikere (Rivers), Chiyere Igwe (Rivers), Ben Igbakpa (Delta), Victor Uchechukwu Nnam Obi (Rivers), Joe Odiowere (Edo) and Fred Obua (Bayelsa).

Others include Ifon Patrick Nathan (Akwa Ibom), Ukpong-Udo Emmanuel (Akwa Ibom), Uduyok Francis Charles (Akwa Ibom), Ekong Nsikak Okon (Akwa Ibom), Archibong Henry Okon (Akwa Ibom), Ekpenyong Nse Bassey (Akwa Ibom) and Enyong Michael Okon (Akwa Ibom). Tijani Ahmed Damisa (Kogi)

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