76 serving senators won’t make 8th National Assembly

No fewer than 76, out of the current 109 members in the Senate, will not be among the senators that would be inaugurated in the 8th National Assembly which is due to start in June this year.

Investigations by our correspondent revealed that some of the current members of the Senate did not contest the March 28 National Assembly election either because they were denied their party’s tickets, or they are interested in the governorship seats of their states.

Some senators however contested the last federal parliamentary election and lost in their various constituencies.

Further findings revealed that 33 of the senators won elections in the various constituencies in the March 28 poll.

In the South-West, for instance, only five out of the 18 senators from the zone are returning to the red chamber.

They are Senators Gbenga Ashafa and Oluremi Tinubu (Lagos); Robert Boroffice (Ondo); and Babajide Omoworare and Olusola Adeyeye (Osun).

The Tsunami also affected the South-East zone, as six senators, like Eyinnaya Abaribe (Abia), Andy Uba (Anambra), Soni Ogbuoji (Ebonyi), Ike Ekweremadu and Gilbert Nnaji (Enugu) and Hope Uzodinma (Imo), made the list.

In the South-South, only Senators Emmanuel Paulker (Bayelsa) and James Manager (Delta) would return to the Senate.

In the North-Central, Senators Bukola Saraki and Shaaba Lafiaji (Kwara); David Mark, George Akume and Barnabas Gemade (Benue); Abdullahi Adamu (Nasarawa) and Joshua Dariye (Plateau) won the poll and returned.

In the North-East, Senators Ahmed Zannah (Borno); Danjuma Goje and Joshua Lidani (Gombe); Emmanuel Bwacha (Taraba); Bukhar Ibrahim and Ahmad Lawan (Yobe); and Kabiru Marafa and Ahmad Sani (Zamfara) were returned by their constituents.

Those who made it in the North-West are Senators Kabiru Gaya (Kano) and Ibrahim Abu (Katsina).

Meanwhile, the incoming senators that would constitute the 8th Senate include 60 All Progressives Congress senators and 49 Peoples Democratic Party members.

The breakdown of the 60 seats won in the Senate by the APC shows that the party cleared 20 out of the available 21 senatorial seats in the North-West, comprising Sokoto, Kano, Jigawa, Zamfara, Kebbi, Kaduna and Katsina states.

It clinched 12 out of the available 18 senatorial seats in the north-eastern states of Borno, Yobe, Adamawa, Bauchi and Gombe.

It also delivered 13 out of the available 18 senatorial seats in the north-central states of Kwara, Kogi, Niger, Nasarawa, Benue and Plateau.

Others are 13 out of the available 18 senatorial seats in the south-western states of Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ondo and Ekiti, in addition to the only one seat it won in the entire south-south geo- political zone, precisely from Edo North.

However, the entire 15 senatorial seats available in the South-East, comprising Ebonyi, Enugu, Abia, Anambra and Imo states, form the bulk of the 49 seats won by the PDP.

These are 17 seats from the South-South; five from the South-West; five from the North-Central; three from the North-East and one from the North-West.