APC forms majority as Saraki, Akpabio, 62 senators,151 reps fail to return
- The last general elections have affected 64 senators and 151 members of the House as they would be vacating their seats
- Senate President Bukola Saraki was one of the big losers of the elections as he would also not be returning to the red chamber
- The APC has the simple majority in the Senate over the PDP but still lacks the two-third majority of 74 senators
After the general election on Saturday, February 23, 64 presently serving senators and 151 members of the House of Representatives will not be returning to their seats in the next 9th National Assembly.
Only 209 members of the House and 45 senators will be retaining their seats going by the election result announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Daily Trust reports.
Also, 42 of the 64 senators that would not be returning lost out at their primaries since October 2018, while the other 22 suffered defeat at the just concluded general election.
It should be noted that out of the newly elected senators, 15 are former governors of different states.
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The All Progressives Congress (APC) has the larger number in the Senate with 64 senators-elect compared to the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) with 41 senators-elect.
Not all the seats in the Senate were contested in the Saturday, February 23 general election as there are still three Senate seats that are yet to be filled from Plateau, Kogi, and Imo state.
Reports also have it that the number of non-returning senators surpasses that of 2015 general elections where only 79 senators lost their seats to the upper chamber.
The result declared by INEC also shows that the APC got over 200 seats in the House, while the PDP has just some numbers above 100.
It should be recalled also that Senate President Bukola Saraki was among the big losers in the general election as he lost his re-election bid to return to the Senate he had been in since 2011, having being defeated by Ibrahim Yahaya Oloriegbe of the APC.
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The election result shows that APC has a simple majority of 64 senators, but still does not have the two-third majority of 73 senators.
The consequence of not having a simple majority in the red chamber means that the ruling party does not have the power to pass major bills.
Meanwhile, Legit.ng earlier reported that the PDP rejected the results of last Saturday’s presidential and National Assembly elections that was announced by INEC.
It was also gathered that the PDP national chairman, Prince Uche Secondus, while addressing newsmen in Abuja, described the figures being announced by the electoral body as incorrect and totally unacceptable.
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Source: Legit.ng