The winners in National Assembly Election, which took place on February 25, 2023, received their Certificates of Return from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) last Tuesday at the International Conference Centre in Abuja which also served as the Presidential Election Collation Centre.
Surprisingly no less than seven state governors who contested the election had their ambition to join the Senate, otherwise known as the Red Chamber, abruptly cut short as they lost to less fancied opponents.
A senatorial district is a third of a state. Many political analysts are therefore surprised that these seven incumbent governors who are rounding up their second terms in office could not win a third of the state they had been governing for the past seven years.
It has become the norm in Nigerian political circles that upon completing their second terms in office most state governors always want to go to the Senate. Those who had had a stint in the upper legislature before becoming governors often look forward to returning at the end of their tenure, thus compelling critics and political analysts to wonder if the Senate should not be seen as a refuge of sorts for former governors after retirement.
Former governors who are currently in the Senate include Ibikunle Amosun from Ogun State. Amosun represented Ogun Central Senatorial District before he became a two-term governor of Ogun State. At the end of his tenure, he returned to the National Assembly. He is a member of the 9th Senate.
Other erstwhile state governors currently in the Senate are Abdullahi Adamu (Nasarawa), Rochas Okorocha (Imo), Abdulaziz Yari (Zamfara), Orji Kalu (Abia), Gabriel Suswam (Benue), Kabiru Gaya (Kano), Chimaroke Nnamani (Enugu) and Ibrahim Shekarau (Kano).
How the incumbent governors lost out in National Assembly election
The seven governors that failed to realize their senatorial ambitions are Ben Ayade of Cross River, Samuel Ortom of Benue, Simon Lalong of Plateau, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State, Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State, Abubakar Bagudu of Kebbi State and Darius Ishaku of Taraba State.
Samuel Ortom
Samuel Ortom is one of the aggrieved state governors elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) known as the G-5 Governors. These governors have had a running battle with the National Chairman of the party, Iyorchia Ayu and its candidate in the Presidential election, Atiku Abubakar. Before the election they had demanded the resignation of Ayu, arguing that the positions of presidential candidate and national chairman should not be occupied by two persons from the same region. They said for fairness and justice, Ayu should resign his position and allow for a southerner to replace him.
The G-5 Governors also refused to be part of the party’s presidential campaign. Ortom openly announced that he was backing the Labour Party’s candidate, Mr. Peter Obi for President.
Despite the grievances they had with the PDP leadership, Ortom went on to contest the NASS election on the platform of the party in Benue North West Senatorial District and lost to the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Titus Zam.
Zam was a Special Adviser on Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs to Ortom until the governor defected to the Peoples Democratic Party in 2018.
Zam, a disciple of the former governor of the state and Minister of Special Duties and Intergovernmental Affairs, George Akume, polled 143,151 votes to defeat Ortom who scored 106,882 votes while the Labour Party candidate, Mike Gbillah, got 51,950 votes.
Announcing the results at the District headquarters at North Bank, Makurdi, the Returning Officer, Professor Rufus Shato, declared Zam winner of the election.
While reacting to the result of the election, Ortom said he would study it and respond appropriately.
Ben Ayade
Governor Ben Ayade of Cross River State also lost his bid to return to the Senate. He was defeated at the poll by the incumbent representing Cross River North Senatorial District, Senator Jarigbe Agom-Jarigbe of the PDP.
Ayade who was in the Senate between 2011 and 2015, polled 56,595 votes against Agom-Jarigbe’s 76,145 votes.
Agom-Jarigbe had been a two-time member of the House of Representatives, before he was elected to the Senate through a by-election held in September 2021, following the death of Dr Rose Okoh.
Ayade, who is serving out his second term as governor of the state, had wanted to replace Agom-Jarigbe in the Senate.
Atiku Bagudu
Bagudu is the incumbent governor of Kebbi State. He contested the election on the platform of the APC and lost the bid to represent Kebbi Central Senatorial District to Adamu Aliero of the PDP. His 92,389 votes was not sufficient to defeat Aliero who scored 126,588 votes.
Also, Abubakar Bello-Tilli of the Social Democratic Party scored 1,874 votes, while Umar Rufa’i of the People’s Redemption Party got 992 votes.
Darius Ishaku
Darius Ishaku of Taraba State is another outgoing two-term governor who lost his bid to represent Taraba South in the Senate.
David Jimkuta, the district’s All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate defeated the governor with 85,415 votes, while Ishaku received 45,708 votes.
Simon Lalong
The Governor of Plateau State and Director-General, Tinubu/Shettima Presidential Campaign Council, Simon Lalong lost the bid to occupy the Plateau South Senatorial seat as he was defeated by retired AVM Napoleon Bali of the People’s Democratic Party.
Lalong who contested the election on the platform of the All Progressives Congress, APC, scored 91, 674 while Bali who defeated him scored 148,844 to emerge the winner.
Okezie Ikpeazu
Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State contested and lost the election in Abia South. INEC declared Sen. Enyinnaya Abaribe the winner of the election. Ikpeazu came third behind Abaribe and Chinedu Onyeizu.
The Returning Officer, Prof. Georgina Ugwuanyi, stated that Abaribe, the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) candidate, polled 49, 903 votes and Lanbour Party’s Chinedu Onyeizu scored 43,903 votes, while Gov. Okezie Ikpeazu received 28,422 votes to finish in the third position.
In his reaction, Ikpeazu faulted INEC for declaring Enyinnaya Abaribe winner of the election in Abia South Senatorial District. He wondered why Abaribe was declared winner after the electoral body affirmed the election was not conducted in 108 polling units in Obingwa, Aba South and Abia North.
Ikpeazu alleged that more than 50,000 supporters of the PDP could not exercise their franchise due to the non-provision and late arrival of electoral materials in some of the local government areas in the senatorial district.
“We would have been able to scrutinise. There were several mutilations on the result from Aba South LGA; they also cancelled many units in Aba South,” he said.
Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi
The Governor of Enugu State and candidate of the PDP, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, lost the Enugu North Senatorial District election to Okey Ezea of LP. Ugwuanyi lost with a wide margin to Ezea. In the result announced by the Returning Officer for the 2023 Enugu North Senatorial District Election, Professor Chukwuemeka Ubaka, at the office of the Independent National Electoral Commission in Nsukka Local Government Area of Enugu State, Ezea polled 104, 492 votes to defeat the governor, who got 46, 948 votes.
AYO ESAN, has been actively reporting and analyzing political events for different newspapers for over 18 years. He has also successfully covered national and state elections in Nigeria since the inception of this democracy in 1999.
