Senate President Godswill Akpabio has announced that the senatorial seats of David Umahi and Ibrahim Geidam, both elected under the All Progressives Congress (APC), are now vacant. This comes as a result of their recent appointments as ministers of Works and Police Affairs, respectively. Umahi was the representative for Ebonyi South, while Geidam represented Yobe East.
With the declaration of these seats as vacant, the task of organizing by-elections in these senatorial districts now falls on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Earlier this week, INEC’s chairman, Mahmoud Yakubu, stated that the commission is contemplating holding by-elections and rerun polls in certain state and federal constituencies in February 2024.
Yakubu emphasized that political parties are required to conduct new primaries within the timeframe stipulated by law for the by-elections.
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He said, “With regard to the by-elections, you may recall that in my recent address at the swearing-in of new resident electoral commissioners (RECs), which was combined with our last quarterly meeting with the RECs nationwide, I made a commitment that the commission will conduct elections to fill vacancies in the national and state assembly constituencies.”