Primaries: 272 Senators, Reps may not return in 2019

About 20 senators and 252 members of the House of Representatives may not return to the National Assembly in 2019, investigations by Saturday PUNCH have revealed.

Majority of the affected lawmakers are members of the ruling All Progressives Congress and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, who lost the ticket to return to NASS at the recently concluded primary elections by the various political parties.

Findings also showed some of the affected lawmakers withdrew from the race to pursue governorship tickets in their states while some pulled out of the race for personal reasons.

While some of the primaries are still marred in controversies, some of the lawmakers are still hopeful of getting a ticket through negotiations.

Those who have lost senatorial tickets include the Chairman, Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Aliyu Sabi-Abdullahi (Niger State), David Umaru (Niger State), Fatimah Raji-Rasaki (Ekiti State), Gbenga Ashafa (Lagos State) and Ibrahim Kurfi (Katsina State).

Also, senators who lost their governorship bid are Baba Kaka Garbai (Borno State), Kabiru Marafa (Zamfara State), Abubakar Kyari (Borno State), Shaaba Lafiagi (Kwara State) and Sam Anyanwu (Imo State). While those who won governorship tickets in their states were Sunny Ogbuoji (Ebonyi State), John Enoh (Cross River State) and Jeremiah Useni (Plateau State).

Those who withdrew from the race for the legislative chamber were Senator Adesoji Akanbi (Oyo State); Senator Ben Murray-Bruce (Bayelsa State); three-term Senator Bukar Abba Ibrahim (Yobe State) and Senators Gbolahan Dada (Ogun State) and David Mark (Benue State).

There are also senators whose fate is hanging in the balance as controversies are still trailing their candidacy and some have become a subject of litigation. In this category are Senators Shehu Sani (Kaduna State), Lanre Tejuoso (Ogun State) and Magnus Abe (Rivers State).

Senator Jonah Jang from Plateau State lost his presidential bid while another senator from Plateau State, Joshua Dariye, is currently serving a jail term for corruption.@Apaya#we are gradually and indirectly changing the game