Five days before the April 15 supplementary polls, opposition parties and candidates, weekend, intensified moves to get the upper hand in the elections and whittle down the strength of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, in the 10th National Assembly.

There will be supplementary balloting for two governorship, five senatorial, 31 House of Representatives and 57 state constituencies’ seats.

The APC had the upper hand in the results of the February 25 Presidential/National Assembly and March 18 governorship/state assembly polls, winning the presidency, 15 governorship, 57 Senate, 162 House of Representatives and over 440 state assembly seats.

The PDP has nine governorship seats while the Labour Party, LP, and New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP, have one each.

The scores for the other parties in the Senate are PDP-33, LP-8, NNPP-2, Social Democratic Party (SDP)- 2; All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA)-1 and Young Progressives Party (YPP)-1.

In the House of Representatives, it is PDP-105, LP-34, NNPP-18, APGA-4, SDP-2, African Democratic Congress (ADC)-2 and YPP-1.

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As it is, the ruling party has the clear majority to produce the President and Deputy President of the Senate. With 162 House of Representatives members-elect, APC also has the majority in the Lower Chamber of the National Assembly but may face the difficult task of producing the speaker and deputy speaker of its choice without the backing of the opposition parties. This is one of the reasons there is an intense battle for the 31 outstanding slots.

With APC yet to zone positions, there is a rat race of sorts among various aspirants from the six geo-political zones, fueling speculations that the ruling party may have a re-hash of the 2015 scenario on its hands.

Most of the 31 Reps slots are in opposition parties-dominated constituencies.

The supplementary elections for the House of Representatives will be held for 31 constituencies in 15 states. They are Akwa Ibom (2), Anambra (1), Bayelsa (1), Edo (1), Imo (1), Kano (2), Kebbi (2), Kogi (1), Oyo (2), Rivers (2), Sokoto (11), Taraba (1), Zamfara (2), Jigawa (1) and Ebonyi state (1).

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Senatorial supplementary polls

The Senatorial elections will be held in the North-western states of Sokoto, Kebbi and Zamfara.

In Sokoto, supplementary elections are to hold for all three senatorial seats –Sokoto North, Sokoto East and Sokoto South– where elections were earlier declared inconclusive. Elections will be held in 389 polling units across all the 23 LGAs of the state. Altogether, there are 227,743 eligible voters to participate in the election.

In Kebbi and Zamfara, the election will hold in one senatorial district each –Kebbi North and Zamfara Central. While the election will be holding in 23 PUs in the Kebbi North senatorial elections, voters in 83 PUs will be voting for the Zamfara Central senatorial election. They have 13,243 and 47,277 eligible voters, respectively.

Looming 2015 scenario

As gathered, the APC does not want a repeat of the 2015 scenario when its favoured candidates did not win the Senate Presidency and speakership.

In 2015, outgoing Senate President, Ahmad Lawan was the favoured candidate of the APC for the position of Senate President, and with a majority in the Senate; he was expected to carry the day.

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However, that was not to be. On June 8, 2015, the day the formal election for Senate President was to be held, while the majority of APC senators, about 50, were waiting for President Muhammadu Buhari, who had invited them to a meeting with him at the International Conference Centre, Senator Bukola Saraki and other senators of the APC moved into the National Assembly Complex for the election of principal officers. 57 Senators loyal to Saraki, most of them PDP members, unanimously elected him after he was nominated by Senators Dino Melaye and Sani Ahmad Yerima and that was how Lawan lost out but he would later serve in the leadership of the Senate.

In the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara emerged as a speaker ahead of the anointed Femi Gbajabiamila.

Last week, APC governors said they would back the party’s choice for the positions. It will be seen if the governors’ move would yield dividends.

We’ll check APC —Opposition members-elect

The members-elect of the House of Representatives from opposition political parties under the umbrella of a minority caucus has vowed to forge a common front to protect their interests.

Describing themselves as the “greater majority” in the incoming House, the caucus also assured it would checkmate the ruling party and deepen democracy.

Speaking at an inaugural meeting in Abuja, a co-convener, Mr Agbedi Yeitiemone Frederick from Bayelsa State, said that the meeting was to enable them to familiarize themselves with one another and form a united front to deepen opposition politics in the 10th House.

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He said: “It is with great honour that I welcome you all on behalf of the co-conveners and other leaders on this auspicious occasion of the inaugural meeting of the minority caucuses that I refer to as the “Greater Majority” of the expected 10th Assembly of the House of Representatives.

“This session is to enable us to network, interact and familiarize ourselves as people that the results of the 2023 General Election have thrown up as a new phase, having numbers that give us greater strength to deepen opposition politics and democracy. Therefore, we need to realize such and bond for the interest of our parties and the people we are here to represent.”

Also speaking, a former chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations and a member of NNPP, Mr Abdulmumin Jibrin, said the opposition parties must checkmate the activities of the ruling party.

He said: “We understand that for us to be able to put through our collective interest, for us to be able to protect our ideals as minority parties that fundamentally serve as a check to the ruling party and to be able to contribute to nation-building, we must come together. If we do not put ourselves together, we will not be able to marshal through our interests.”

In like manner, Mrs Beni Lar from Plateau State (PDP) said with their number, they can achieve a common goal.

“All of us put together are now the majority and a greater majority. This is something that many parliaments around the world seek to achieve but cannot achieve. I believe that with our numbers, strength and with our doggedness, we can achieve our common goal and purpose,” she said.
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