18 Parties Battle For Control Of National Assembly

As the presidential and National Assembly elections hold today, political parties in the country are battling to take control of the National Assembly.

No fewer than 1,101 candidates are contesting for 109 senatorial seats and 3,122 candidates are  fighting for 360 seats in the House of Representatives.

The party that clinches the most seats in the senate will determine who the senate president will be, while the party that wins most seat in the house will produce the speaker.

LEADERSHIP Weekend reports that in states where some governors are not supporting their presidential candidates, those in the race have been calling on the electorate to support candidates of their party.

This, LEADERSHIP Weekend gathered, is to enable them win their positions and take control of the National Assembly.

In Benue State, though  Governor Samuel Ortom declared for another presidential candidate, the three senators in his party have called on the people to vote for them at all levels.

In Abia State, the senate chief whip, Orji Uzo Kalu who wants to be the senate president if his party gets the majority, has openly said he would not support the gubernatorial candidate of his party, Ikechi Emenike.

Kalu had to blame the ruling party in his state for allegedly sponsoring a story that he was suspended from his party.

In the North Eastern State of Yobe, Senate President Ahmad Lawan will be having a serious battle after winning his ticket at the Supreme Court.

Lawan, even if he returns to the senate, might find it difficult to return to his seat even if his party makes the majority because the running mate of his party, Kashim Shettima, is also from the North East.

In the South South, Francis Alimikhena, is slugging it out with former governor and former national chairman of the APC, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole.

In the North West of Kebbi, Sen Adamu Aliero and Yahaya Abdullahi who are in the same political party will be working hard to see how they can overpower Governor Atiku Bagudu in order to make the majority at the red chamber.

In the South West, Sen Michael Opeyemi Bamidele will be hoping to deliver his presidential candidate and also work for his return to the red chamber to help his party make the majority.

Any party that makes the majority at the red chamber is likely to produce the next senate president.

Meanwhile, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has postponed the conduct of senatorial election in Enugu East from today to March 11.

The election will now hold alongside the governorship poll in the state.

The development was sequel to the death of Labour Party (LP) candidate in the Enugu East senatorial race, Barr. Oyibo Chukwu, on Wednesday.

Chukwu who was rounding off his campaign was shot dead when the vehicle he was travelling in was attacked and later set ablaze.

INEC chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu who said in Abuja yesterday at the INEC media briefing that the Labour Party had communicated the death of its candidate, adding that the party also conveyed its intention to participate in the election for that constituency by replacing the deceased candidate which is in line with Section 34 (1) of the Electoral Act.

He said,  “The second issue is the unfortunate incident involving the candidate of the Labour Party in Enugu State. I can confirm that we have now received a formal communication from the party informing the commission of the death of its candidate for Enugu East Senatorial District.

“The party also conveyed its intention to participate in the election for that constituency by replacing its deceased candidate.

“This request is in line with the provision of the law. For clarity, I wish to quote verbatim the provision of Section 34(1) of the Electoral Act 2022 as follows: If, after the time for the delivery of nomination paper and before the commencement of the poll, a nominated candidate dies, the chief national electoral commissioner shall, being satisfied of the fact of the death, countermand the poll in which the deceased candidate was to participate and the commission shall appoint some other convenient date for the election within 14 days.

“The Labour Party has provided satisfactory evidence of the death of its candidate. Consequently, the commission has suspended the election in the senatorial district as provided by law.”

The INEC chairman added; “We have already communicated this decision to our Enugu State office. Therefore, there will be no senatorial election in Enugu East Senatorial District made up of six local government Areas, 77 wards, and 1,630 polling units.

“The election will now be combined with the governorship and state assembly elections holding in the next two weeks on 11th March 2023.

“Materials already delivered for the senatorial election will remain in the custody of the Central Bank in the state until the new date for election.”

Also speaking, the Inspector General of Police, Mr Usman Alkali-Baba, said security had been upscaled as the police lead other security agencies in ensuring a conducive environment during and after the elections.

He said a special team fully armed had been instituted to attend to emergencies in any part of the country while 425,106 security personnel had been deployed.

According to him, the directive on movement restriction is to assist security agencies to monitor the situation accordingly.

He said adequate personnel and logistics had been deployed to all collation centers for maximum security.

He stressed that each polling unit would have at least two officers and every police must put on tags for proper identification.

He warned those planning to cause trouble to have a rethink as security agencies would resist any move from any quarter.