Politics
NASS landlords – Lawmakers who have spent 20 years in Senate, House of Reps
Since Nigeria returned to democracy in 1999, Nigeria has had four presidents – Olusegun Obasanjo, Umaru Yar’Adua, Goodluck Jonathan and the incumbent, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.).
Each of the 36 states would also have had at least three governors within the period, but could be more if any of the governors spent only one term of four years. But in the National Assembly – the nation’s bicameral legislature, made up of the Senate and the House of Representatives – some lawmakers seem to be maintaining permanent seats in the chambers.
Interestingly, some of them have been in the parliament since 1999 and will complete their sixth term in 2023. Several members have been in either the House or the Senate or both since 2003, and they would have spent not less than 20 years in 2023 when the 9th Assembly winds down. The members belong to the ruling All Progressives Congress and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party. Some of them have also switched parties as part of moves to get re-elected.
Opinions are divided on which is better between having long-serving lawmakers and fresh lawmakers every four years. Some persons have argued that returning members have legislative experience and the institutional memory of parliamentary norms and processes.
Those who belong to the former group often cite the example of the United States’ parliaments with many long-serving lawmakers, while those in the latter often argue that the Senate is fast becoming the ‘retirement home’ for former governors and ex-ministers.
Mutu, a typical landlord at the Green Chamber
Representing Bomadi/Patani Federal Constituency in Delta State, Nicholas Mutu has been in the House since 1999. He served as the chairman of the House Committee on Niger Delta Development Commission between 2009 and 2019 – arguably the longest time a member would head the same committee. Not one of the known names when it comes to debates on motions and bills, documents presented to the House Committee on NDDC by the immediate past Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio, had indicated that Mutu is a serial contractor to the commission. While the Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo led committee was investigating mismanagement and fraud in the NDDC, Akpabio had alleged that National Assembly members, especially the previous leadership of the committee, were beneficiaries of contracts from the commission. A list the minister provided showed that Mutu had the highest number of NDDC projects listed against his name.
Lawan: From the green chamber to senate presidency
The incumbent President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, has been in the National Assembly since 1999. He was first elected a member of the House where he spent two terms. There he represented Bade/Jakusko Federal Constituency in Yobe State. In 2007, he was elected a senator to represent Yobe North Senatorial District and has retained the seat since then. Lawan became the President of the 9th Senate in 2019. Currently, he is seeking to be the President of Nigeria in 2023, which would depend on the outcome of the presidential primary of the APC scheduled for Monday.
Gbajabiamila: From floor member to Speakership
Femi Gbajabiamila is the current Speaker of the House of Representatives, serving his fifth term. He has been in the House since 2003, representing Surulere 1 Federal Constituency in Lagos State. The lawmaker was the Minority Leader of the House in the 7th National Assembly, and later Majority Leader in the 8th Assembly after his hope of becoming Speaker was dashed. Gbajabiamila has again secured the ticket of the APC to contest for a sixth term in 2023.
Ndume: Two-term Rep, three-term Senator
Since 2003, Ali Ndume has been in the National Assembly. He first represented Chibok/Damboa/Gwoza Federal Constituency in Borno State for two terms; 2003 to 2011, and was in 2011 elected to represent Borno South Senatorial District at the red chamber, a seat he has kept till date. During his stay in the chamber, Ndume had attempted to be President of the Senate at different times. He was the Majority Leader of the House in the 8th Assembly but was sacked over his political stance against that of the then President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki. Ndume was replaced with Ahmad Lawan, who is now the Senate President.
Ekweremadu: The longest-serving presiding officer
The lawmaker representing Enugu West Senatorial District, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, is serving his fifth consecutive term, having been in the Senate since 2003. He attempted to be President of the Senate in 2005 but failed. Senator Ken Nnamani got the position instead. However, Ekweremadu was the Deputy President of the Senate for three consecutive terms – 6th, 7th and 8th, spanning 12 years, a record time as a presiding officer in the National Assembly. The lawmaker had announced his retirement from the Senate in 2023. He joined the governorship race in Enugu but lost the PDP ticket.
Manager: A senator caught on his knees
The Delta South Senatorial District in Delta State has had James Manager as its representative since 2003. The lawmaker may not be returning with the 10th Assembly over his governorship ambition in Delta. A photograph showing Manager on his knees before a former Governor of Delta State, James Ibori, an ex-convict and political godfather of the PDP in the state, had gone viral on the Internet about a year ago.
Ogor: Once upon an opposition leader
Leo Ogor has been representing Isoko-North/Isoko-South Federal Constituency in Delta State at the House of Representatives since 2003. He was the Deputy Majority Leader of the House in the 7th Assembly and Minority Leader in the 8th Assembly. Ogor’s exploits as leader in both majority and minority caucuses is on record, especially during heated debates with his then opponent, Femi Gbajabiamila, who was also Minority Leader and Majority Leader at different times.
Ado-Doguwa: From one Republic to another
Alhassan Ado-Doguwa is the current Majority Leader of the House. He was a member of the House in the botched Third Republic and returned to the parliament in the Fourth Republic to represent Doguwa/Tudun Wada Federal Constituency in Kano State in 2007. According to a document obtained from Ado-Doguwa’s office containing his profile, the lawmaker was said to have made history by becoming “the first Nigerian to be sworn in as a member of the House of Representatives immediately after completing his youth service.” Though he was rumoured to be nursing the ambition to govern Kano State, Ado-Doguwa is said to be one of the top contenders for the speakership seat in the 10th House, even though the election is still about eight months away.
Monguno: A serial speakership aspirant
Mohammed Monguno represents Marte/Monguno/Nganzai Federal Constituency in Borno State. He was first elected a member of the House in the Third Republic (1992/93) and returned to the House in 2007 under the current Fourth Republic. In 2015, Monguno contested the speakership but later stepped down for Gbajabiamila, who was the candidate of the APC. Monguno also lost his deputy speakership bid to Yusuf Lasun. While Yakubu Dogara beat Gbajabiamila to emerge as the Speaker, he kept Lasun as his deputy. Again in 2019, Monguno joined the speakership race and, again, stepped down for Gbajabiamila, who remained the party’s candidate for the position. He is the current Majority Whip of the House.
Gaya: From governorship to lawmaking
Senator Kabiru Gaya was Governor of Kano State in the Third Republic (from 1992 to 1993) on the platform of the National Republican Convention. He has been in the Senate since 2007, representing Kano South Senatorial District.
Abaribe: Alternating between executive and legislature
Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe became the deputy governor of Abia State in 1999, with Orji Uzor Kalu as the governor. Due to his rift with Kalu over his (Abaribe’s) governorship ambition, the state’s House of Assembly moved to impeach him as the deputy governor three times – twice in 2000 and a third time in 2003. To avoid the third attempt being successful, he would later resign his position. However, Abaribe emerged as the lawmaker representing Abia South Senatorial District in the upper chamber of the National Assembly in 2007 and has been there since then. Until last week, he was Minority Leader of the Senate. The senator lost the PDP governorship ticket in his state during last week’s primary, he resigned his membership of the party and minority caucus leadership in the Senate. He has now joined the All Progressives Grand Alliance where he now has the ticket to seek a return to the Senate.
Dogara: A Speaker in majority and minority parties
Representing Bogoro/Dass/Tafawa Balewa Federal Constituency in Bauchi State, Yakubu Dogara, joined the House in 2007. Under a controversial circumstance, he became the Speaker of the House in the 8th Assembly (2015-2019), then as member of the ruling APC. His emergence was controversial because he was not the choice of his party, the APC. The party had preference for Gbajabiamila. Dogara later defected from the APC to the opposition PDP while in office. Though he was re-elected as member of the House in the current Assembly, Dogara, who has not been seen on the floor of the House, defected back to the APC a few months ago.
Betara: The man in charge of appropriation
Another member of the 2007 set is Mukhtar Betara, who represents Biu/Bayo/Shani Federal Constituency in Borno State and currently chairs the House Committee on Appropriation. He was one of the speakership aspirants at the beginning of the current House. His constituents procured the N10m APC expression of interest and nomination forms for him to seek re-election to the House in 2023. He is being tipped by some persons to be the next Speaker.
Abba-Ibrahim: A family in love with lawmaking
Khadijat, the wife of former Yobe State governor, Bukar Abba-Ibrahim, has been in the House since 2007, representing Damaturu/Gujba/Gulani/Tarmuwa Federal Constituency in Yobe State. She was serving her fourth term in 2016 when the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), appointed her as the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs. On January 9, 2019, Abba-Ibrahim resigned from Buhari’s cabinet to contest for a fresh fourth term in the House and she won. Hers seems like a family in love with politics. At a point in time, she and her husband were in the National Assembly. Her husband was governor of Yobe State in the Third Republic – from January 1992 to November 1993. In the Fourth Republic, he became the governor again for two terms – from 1999 to 2007. In 2007, he represented Yobe East Senatorial District, where he was till the 8th Assembly which ended in 2019. Interestingly, Mrs Abba-Ibrahim contested against her stepson to clinch the APC ticket with which she is currently representing her constituency in the House.
PUNCH
Aggrieved aspirants in Taraba, Kano, Jigawa, Anambra, Benue, Kogi, Kaduna, Ebonyi, Rivers and Plateau states are mobilising petitions and posapc-screening-crisis-deepens-ahead-of-2027-primariessible legal challenges over the outcome of the party’s screening exercises.
The screening process, designed to prune the number of aspirants ahead of party primaries, has generated controversy in multiple states, with several disqualified hopefuls preparing to seek redress through appeal committees.
In some states, protests have already erupted, while party stakeholders warned that attempts to impose candidates could trigger defections, anti-party activities and deepen internal divisions ahead of the primaries.
Taraba: Backlash Over Senator Lau’s Endorsement
In Taraba State, the endorsement of Senator Shuaibu Isa Lau reportedly backed by party stakeholders after the screening exercise, sparked fierce backlash, especially in Taraba North Senatorial District.
Stakeholders and youth groups rejected the endorsement, accusing the senator of poor performance.
A stakeholder from Karim Lamido LGA, Paul Penuel, described the senator’s tenure as “a complete failure,” insisting there was no record of impactful projects or measurable achievements to justify another term.
Another constituent, Dickson Kwinde, warned that repeating what he termed a “costly political mistake” could alienate voters.
Similarly, the Coalition of Concerned Youths and Voice of the Proletariat in Karim Lamido also rejected the endorsement.
Party sources disclosed that some aggrieved aspirants had begun preparing petitions alleging procedural irregularities, manipulation by political godfathers and attempts to impose consensus candidates without proper consultation.
Kano: Consensus Deal Sparks Protest
In Kano State, over 20 aspirants seeking Senate, House of Representatives and State Assembly tickets were reportedly screened out despite earlier consensus arrangements.
Among those affected were former Head of Service, Usman Bala; former lawmaker, Sha’aban Sharada; Muhammad Zango; Danyaro Yakasai; Abbas Abbas; Shehu Driver and Abdulkarim Abdulsalam Zaura in the Kano Central Senatorial contest.
However, APC Publicity Secretary Auwal Soja confirmed that six aspirants eventually stepped down for former Governor Ibrahim Shekarau after a reconciliation meeting.
Despite the arrangement, protests persisted, with a group known as Coalition for Better Kano faulting Shekarau’s endorsement and warning against sacrificing loyalty for political expediency.
Efforts by Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf to reconcile aggrieved aspirants reportedly suffered setbacks after key stakeholders boycotted the peace meeting.
Jigawa: Disqualification Triggers Defection
In Jigawa State, the fallout from the screening exercise resulted in resignation and defection.
Former Speaker of the Jigawa State House of Assembly, Isah Idris, resigned from the APC after he was disqualified and replaced by another aspirant.
In his resignation letter, Idris lamented what he described as the party’s departure from its founding principles before defecting to the Peoples Democratic Party.
Another former Speaker, Idris Garba, and serving lawmaker Abubakar Sadiq were also edged out, heightening fears of deeper cracks within the state chapter.
Benue: Zoning Dispute Emerges
In Benue State, about 40 aspirants were reportedly disqualified during the screening of House of Assembly hopefuls in Makurdi.
The disqualifications generated anger among supporters who accused the party of violating zoning arrangements and excluding certain blocs from representation.
Supporters warned that failure to address the grievances could hurt the party electorally during the general elections.
Kogi: Aspirants Allege “Commando Arrangement”
In Kogi State, protests and accusations of authoritarianism followed allegations that nomination forms were selectively distributed to preferred aspirants under what critics described as a “Commando arrangement.”
A party chieftain, Chief Femi Olugbemi, accused the state leadership of abandoning democratic principles and sidelining aspirants with strong grassroots support.
The controversy has fuelled fears of mass defections and legal disputes within the state chapter.
Anambra: APC Expels 30 Members
In Anambra State, the APC expelled 30 members, including Senate and House of Representatives aspirants, for instituting legal action against the party.
The state Publicity Secretary, Valentine Iyiegbu, said the expulsions were in line with the party constitution.
According to him, the affected members could only be reconsidered if they withdrew their court cases against the party.
Kaduna: Consensus Crisis Intensifies
In Kaduna State, controversy erupted over moves to impose consensus candidates for National Assembly positions, despite peaceful House of Assembly screening exercises.
The crisis is particularly intense in Kaduna Central Senatorial District, where former lawmaker and activist Shehu Sani is reportedly being favoured as a consensus candidate.
The arrangement has been rejected by former Speaker Yusuf Ibrahim Zailani and activist Yarima Shettima, who warned against political manipulation and backroom deals.
Ebonyi: Aspirant Resigns Over Consensus Arrangement
In Ebonyi State, disqualified candidates also expressed dissatisfaction with the process.
An aspirant for Ebonyi Central Senatorial District, Chief Christian Nwali, resigned from the APC in protest after losing out in the consensus arrangement adopted by the state chapter.
Nwali, an ally of Works Minister David Umahi, announced his resignation with immediate effect.
Rivers: 65 Aspirants Disqualified
In Rivers State, no fewer than 65 aspirants were disqualified by the APC House of Assembly Screening Appeal Committee.
The committee chairman, human rights lawyer Abdul Mahmud, disclosed that only 33 aspirants were cleared ahead of the primaries.
Mahmud revealed that the panel had already received multiple petitions from aggrieved aspirants, many of whom complained that their disqualification was only discovered through social media posts rather than official communication from the party.
He advised the party to improve its communication process in future exercises.
Plateau APC Braces for Fallout
In Plateau State, the APC is reportedly preparing for possible fallout following reports that several House of Assembly aspirants were screened out ahead of the official release of results.
Party insiders fear that unresolved grievances could trigger further divisions within the state chapter ahead of the primaries.
By Okey Maduforo Awka
The former member that represented Anambra East and West Federal Constituency Chief Chinedu Obidigwe has denied a social media handle where he was said to have made Prof Charles Soludo the Governor of Anambra state.
Obidigwe further stated that the report did neither emanate from him or from his Media Aides urging the party not to believe what he called attempt at setting a negative agenda in the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).
Obidigwe who is an Aspirant of the party for the Anambra East and West Federal Constituency accused enemies of the party being sponsored by opposition parties to creat problems .
According to the Media Assistant to Obidigwe Mr Dominic Okagbue in a statement;
“The attention of Hon. Chinedu Benjamin Obidigwe has been drawn to misleading and unfounded claims/propaganda being circulated on various social media platforms through a pseudo account, alleging that Obidigwe said he installed the Governor of Anambra State, Prof. Charles Chukwuma Soludo, CFR, as Governor in 2021”
“We wish to state, without any iota of equivocation, that such a statement never emanated from Hon. Chinedu Obidigwe. It is a desperate move by his political enemies who are bent on tarnishing his image as a tool and technique to advance their unmerited aspirations”
“Obidigwe, in 2021, was merely an electorate with just one vote. Even though he voted for the Governor and APGA, the question remains: can one man’s vote make a Governor?”
“Governor Soludo was elected and made Governor through the collective votes of Ndi Anambra, both in his first and second terms. We therefore call on the reading public to disregard such rumours and treat them as faceless and unfounded allegations geared towards the character assassination of an innocent man” he said.
A former Kano State Governor and leader of the Kwankwasiyya Movement, Rabiu Kwankwaso, says northern political leaders conducted a deliberate assessment of potential allies before settling on Peter Obi as the most capable partner to prosecute the 2027 presidential campaign.
He dismissed concerns about a hidden power struggle between his camp and Obi’s.Politics
Kwankwaso made the disclosure in an interview on Arise TV on Monday, offering one of his most detailed accounts yet of how the North-Southeast political alliance within the NDC was formed.
“I looked around together with our leadership in the north to say, okay, who do we think is capable? Who can come and work together with us honestly so that we can move this country? Along the line, we realised that Peter Obi is at the forefront of it. That’s why we all accepted to work together,” he said.Political candidate profile
Kwankwaso, a two-term former governor of Kano State and the presidential candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party in 2023, leads the Kwankwasiyya movement, a grassroots political force with deep loyalty across Kano and parts of northern Nigeria.Nigeria travel guide
He left the NNPP amid internal disputes before joining the NDC alongside Obi earlier this month.
Obi, a former governor of Anambra State, ran on the Labour Party platform in 2023 and drew massive youth-driven support across the South and urban centres, though he did not win.
Both men formally joined the NDC on Sunday, May 3, defecting from the crisis-hit African Democratic Congress.Politics
At the party’s national convention on Saturday in Abuja, Kwankwaso backed the NDC’s decision to zone its 2027 presidential ticket to the South, describing it as a step toward fairness, healing and national cohesion.
Responding to a question about whether the alliance concealed a quiet rivalry between both camps, Kwankwaso argued that friction between principals and their deputies was a product of greed, not structural tension.
“The problem people are having, especially leaders, is that they are too greedy to the extent that they begin to have issues. There is so much to do. You don’t have to fight your deputy,” he said.
He said his record as a former deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, and later as governor of Kano State, showed that political partnerships could hold under pressure.
“I had an opportunity to work with my speaker and we worked very well. I was in Kano for eight years despite the difficulty of my then deputy governor. We were able to work for eight years amicably to the extent that I handed over to him,” he said.
Kwankwaso extended the argument beyond his personal experience, saying the same principle applied at the federal level.
In the Senate and other places, in the NDDC, we worked amicably with people. There is so much to be done and that’s why you have even ministers, other executives, advisors and so on. I don’t see from my experiences of the past why deputies or vice would fight with the president or governor,” he said.
He grounded the alliance in Nigerian political history, tracing a lineage of productive North-Southeast partnerships from the first republic to the present.Nigeria travel guide
“Right from the beginning, this sort of alliance has been in existence. Now we are going back to what Tafawa Balewa did during their time,” he said.
He also referenced the collaboration between former Prime Minister Tafawa Balewa and leaders of the NCNC, as well as that of former President Shehu Shagari and his vice president, Alex Ekwueme, in the second republic.
“So also in the second republic, immediately after the war, our leaders, Shagari and others, worked very closely with the southeast, with Alex Ekwueme as his vice president. They are our friends. We want to work together with them,” he said.Politics
Kwankwaso also noted that subsequent administrations had shifted power-sharing away from the South-East, a pattern he suggested the current alliance was correcting.
“There was a change during the third republic where for many obvious reasons an election was annulled and the government under the military decided to bring in Shonekan from the South-West.
Even after that, the military and other leaders worked together and brought in Chief Olusegun Obasanjo from the South-West again. Even Bola Tinubu probably is a beneficiary of all that,” he said.
He was emphatic that the choice of Obi was not driven by regional sentiment alone.
“It wasn’t just because we are going to the South-West just because of the South-West. No. We realised that Peter Obi is at the forefront of it and that’s why we all accepted to work together,” he said.Political candidate profile
The movement of both men into the NDC has triggered a wave of defections, with senators, House of Representatives members and political blocs aligned with their former coalition gravitating toward the new party, rapidly reshaping calculations ahead of the 2027 elections.
The alliance pairs Kwankwaso’s northern grassroots structure and disciplined voter mobilisation with Obi’s national youth engagement and urban electoral momentum, positioning the NDC as one of the main opposition platforms set to challenge President Bola Tinubu and the ruling All Progressives Congress in 2027
Former Kano State Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso has dismissed suggestions that his exit from the African Democratic Congress has created a damaging split in the opposition.
He said he and Atiku Abubakar may yet work together before the 2027 general election.
Kwankwaso spoke in an interview on Arise TV on Monday, responding to concerns that his move to the Nigeria Democratic Congress alongside Peter Obi had effectively divided the opposition into two competing blocs ahead of the polls.
“Now, we may still work together before the election. I personally, and I think even Obi himself, decided to leave ADC not because we are fighting with Atiku or anybody there. We decided to leave that party because we realised that there are some issues,” he said
He said the ADC was contending with three major unresolved problems that he believed would make it difficult for the party to field candidates, without specifying what those issues were.
“Whether they will be able to field candidates in that party or not is just a matter of time. It’s not like we had a primary election,” he said
The remarks come after Atiku recently claimed on Arise TV that Kwankwaso’s popularity was confined to Kano State and further divided there by Governor Abba Yusuf.
Atiku, who is seeking the presidency on the ADC platform, also described himself as the most popular politician of northern extraction, saying none of his contemporaries, including Kwankwaso, Aminu Tambuwal and Nasir El-Rufai, commanded a voter base across the North as wide as his.
Kwankwaso did not engage the slight directly, but made clear he bore no grudge.
“Politics is just like a game. I’m not fighting anybody and I’m not expecting anybody to fight me. I have no issue with that. I think we are past that level now,” he said.
He challenged those predicting a vote split in Kano to wait for the election result before drawing conclusions.
“Let’s wait for the election and see whether votes are split in Kano or not,” he said.
Kwankwaso also acknowledged a history of working with Atiku, recalling that he served as the former vice president’s northern coordinator during the 2019 presidential election.
“There was an election in 2019 in Port Harcourt. He won the election. I was his coordinator for the north. We worked for him,” he said.
He traced his broader relationship with Atiku to the 2015 APC presidential primary in Lagos, where he placed second behind Muhammadu Buhari, with Atiku third.
By Okey Maduforo, Awka
The Anambra State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has expelled 30 members of the party for instituting legal actions against the party.
The affected members include some aspirants for the National Assembly, and their expulsion may disqualify them from participating in the party’s primary elections.
Disclosing this shortly after the meeting of the State Executive Committee (SEC) of the party, the State Publicity Secretary, Dr. Sir Valentine Iyiegbu, told reporters that the decision was in line with Section 21, Subsection 5 of the party’s constitution.
“The party discussed those who took the party to court, and many of them are contesting for the House of Representatives tickets of the party,” he said.
“The matter comes up tomorrow, and the SEC stated that what the party constitution stipulates would be followed, which is outright expulsion from the party under Article 21, Subsection 5.”
“The SEC actually ratified their expulsion because they did not exhaust all the internal avenues provided by the party to resolve their grievances,” he added.
Iyiegbu noted that the only reprieve available to the expelled members would be for them to withdraw their court cases.
“It is only when the matters are withdrawn from the court that the party can consider listening to them,” he said.
Speaking on the party’s primary elections, he explained:
“In the case of those contesting for the tickets of the Federal House of Representatives, all the eleven positions have aspirants, while for the Senate, the three positions are also being contested. The screening committees were here to perform their duties,” he noted.
The party also ratified the appointment of a five-man Primary Elections Committee headed by Sir Izuchukwu Okeke, the State Organising Secretary of the party.
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