Our Correspondent
While the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) conducts elections to the National Assembly at the end of each four-year tenure, some lawmakers have kept returning one tenure after another.
Some lawmakers have either remained in one chamber or moved to the other since the country returned to democratic rule in 1999.
Generally, ranking lawmakers serving in either the House of Representatives or Senate and those who moved from what many describe as the Lower (Green) Chamber to the Upper (Red) Chamber for at least four terms are referred to as βLandlordsβ of the National Assembly.
Despite the high turnover rate recorded in the 2023 National Assembly election, some of these Landlords have returned to what has become their familiar political abode.
In the House of Representatives, for instance, at the end of the first round of the 2023 National Assembly election, just over 90 members were re-elected, while over 230 were first-timers out of the 360 lawmakers that make up the Green Chamber.
These are the βLandlordsβ of the National Assembly:
Sen. Ahmad Lawan
Ahmed Lawan, a former President of the Senate in the 9th Assembly, has been in the National Assembly since 1999. He was first elected into the House of Representatives and represented Bade/Jakusko Federal Constituency of Yobe State on the platform of the defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) between 1999 and 2027.
The former university lecturer was elected to the Senate in 2007 as a lawmaker representing Yobe North. He was re-elected in 2011 on the ANPP ticket and in 2015, 2019 and 2023 on the APC ticket.
During his sojourn in the National Assembly, he has served variously as the chairman of the House of Representatives Committees on Public Accounts, Education, and Agriculture, and as the Senate Leader before becoming the Senate president in 2019.
Lawan, who contested the APC presidential primary election in 2022 but lost to Bola Tinubu, was re-elected to the Senate at the 2023 general election.
He is currently the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Defence. The former presidential aspirant is in his seventh term in the National Assembly, where he has spent about 27 years.
Hon. Nicholas Mutu
Mutu, the lawmaker representing Bomadi/Patani Federal Constituency of Delta State, has also been in the National Assembly since 1999.
He had been re-elected to the same chamber between 1999 and 2023.
The Delta lawmaker who recently dumped PDP for the APC has chaired sensitive committees, including Niger Delta Affairs/NDDC and Gas Resources, and is presently the leader of the Southern Region caucus in the House.
Like Lawan, Mutu is in his seventh term in the National Assembly, where he has spent about 27 years.
Sen. Ali Ndume
Ndume has been in the National Assembly since 2003, where he first represented Chibok/Damboa/Gwoza federal constituency of Borno State from 2003 to 2011.
He moved to the Senate in 2011 as a lawmaker representing Borno South Senatorial District, a seat he has occupied to date.
The former Polytechnic lecturer had been a member of the ANPP, PDP, and APC during his time in the National Assembly. Ndume had served as the Minority Leader in the House of Representatives, the Majority Leader, and the Chief Whip of the Senate. The controversial lawmaker is serving his sixth term in the National Assembly, where he has been a member for about 23 years.
Hon. Alhassan Doguwa
Doguwa is a former House Leader and lawmaker representing Doguwa/Tudun Wada Federal Constituency of Kano State in the National Assembly.
He was first elected to the Third Republicβs House of Representatives in 1992 on the Social Democratic Party (SDP) platform.
The First Class Mass Communication graduate of Bayero University, Kano, returned to the Green Chamber in 2007 and has been there since then.
He chaired the House Committee on MDGs, served as Chief Whip and ultimately the House Leader as an APC member.
Doguwa, who withdrew from the Speakership race for the 10th House, presently chairs the House Committee on Petroleum Resources (Upstream) and is Leader of Northern Region Caucus.
The lawmaker is serving his sixth term in the National Assembly, but has only been in the assembly for 21 years due to the botched Third Republic.
Sen. Mohammed Monguno
Monguno, a lawyer, was first elected to the House in the Third Republic (1992/1993). He returned to the House in 2007 under the present Fourth Republic, and has been re-elected in subsequent elections.
The lawmaker, who represented Marte/Monguno/Nganzai federal constituency in Borno State, was elected Senator for Borno North in 2023.
In the House of Representatives, Monguno, who contested for the office of the Speaker in 2015 and 2019 but stepped down in favour of the APC-anointed candidate, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, served as Chief Whip of the Lower Chamber.
He is the present Chief Whip of the Senate. Like Doguwa, Monguno is serving his sixth term in the National Assembly, but 21 years due to the botched Third Republic.
Hon. Abba-Ibrahim
Khadijat Bukar Abba-Ibrahim has been in the House since 2007, representing the Damaturu/Gujba/Gulani/Tarmuwa federal constituency of Yobe State.
She had a brief break in 2016 when the late President Muhammadu Buhari appointed her the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs. However, she resigned her ministerial appointment in 2019, contested that yearβs general election, and won her seat back.
The former Yobe State First Lady also sought re-election in 2023, and her people, as politicians always say, returned her to the Green Chamber on the APC platform. Abba-Ibrahim is the chairman of the House Committee on Maritime Safety, Education, and Administration.
The former minister is serving her fifth term in the House, having spent about 17 years there during her ministerial appointment from 2016 to 2019.
Sen. Enyinnaya Abaribe
Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe was elected to represent Abia South Senatorial District in the Senate in 2007 on the PDP platform. He has retained the seat to date, serving in his fifth term and having been in office for about 19 years. He was the Minority Leader of the Senate in the 9th Assembly.
In the build-up to the 2023 general election, Abaribe lost the PDP ticket and joined the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), on whose platform he was re-elected to a fifth term.
The former deputy governor of Abia State currently chairs the Senate Committee on Power.
Hon. Idris Wase
Idris Wase is the lawmaker representing Wase Federal Constituency of Plateau State for the fifth time. He has spent about 19 years in the seat.
Wase was first elected to the House in 2007 and has been re-elected since. He was Deputy House Leader in the 8th House of Representatives and Deputy Speaker of the 9th.
Wase, an APC member, ran for the speakership of the 10th House but lost to Hon. Abbas Tajudeen.
He is currently the chairman of the House Committee on Federal Character and the Leader of the North Central Caucus.
Hon. Muktar Betara
Betara is in his fifth term in the House of Representatives, having been elected since 2007 to represent Biu/Bayo/Shani/Kwaya Kusa Federal Constituency of Borno State on the ticket of the defunct ANPP.
Now a member of the ruling APC, Betara had chaired the House Committee on Army and Defence and the Appropriations Committee in the 9th House.
He has put in about 19 years in the Green Chamber.
The Borno ranking lawmaker was a top contender for the Speakership of the 10th Assembly but withdrew a few days to the D-Day.
He is currently the chairman of the House Committee on FCT.
Hon. Wole Oke
Wole Oke is a member of the House of Representatives for the fifth time, having served for about 19 years to date.
The lawmaker representing Obokun/Oriade Federal Constituency of Osun State was first elected to the lower chamber in 2003 on the PDP platform and re-elected in 2007.
However, he briefly lost his re-election bid in 2011 but returned in 2015, 2019 and 2023.
Oke has chaired the Committees on Defence and Public Accounts at various times.
He is presently the chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and a member of the APC, having left the PDP last year.
Sen. Adamu Aliero
Adamu Aliero became a Senator in 2007 on the PDP ticket after serving as governor of Kebbi State for eight years, bween 1999 and 2007 on the platform of the defunct ANPP.
The retired Customs officer was appointed the FCT Minister by President Umaru YarβAdua, the same year he joined the Senate.
Aliero, who oscillated between PDP and Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), settled for the APC in 2014 and was re-elected to the Senate in 2015, where he has remained to date, serving in his fourth term and spending about 15 years.
He presently chairs the Senate Committee on Lands Transport.
Sen. Adeola Olamilekan
Olamilekan is the Senator representing Ogun West and is in his fourth term in the National Assembly. He has served for about 15 years.
Though an indigene of Ogun State, he was first elected to the House of Representatives in 2011 to represent Alimosho Federal Constituency of Lagos State on the platform of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).
He was elected to the Senate in 2015 and re-elected in 2019 to represent the Lagos West Senatorial District on the APC platform.
However, in the 2023 election, Olamilekan returned to his home state, Ogun, and was elected to represent Ogun West.
He is presently the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
Sen. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal
Tambuwal represents Sokoto South Senatorial District in the National Assembly.
He had served in the House of Representatives from 2003 to 2015, representing the Tambuwal/Kebbe Federal Constituency of Sokoto State.
The lawmaker was Speaker of the House of Representatives from 2011 to 2015.
After his tenure as Sokoto State governor (2015-2025), he was elected to the Senate from 2023 to date.
The former PDP lawmaker, who was once in the APC, has been elected to the National Assembly four times, where he has spent about 15 years.
Tambuwal is now a chieftain of the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
Sen. Danjuma Goje
A former Minister and Governor of Gombe State on the platform of PDP, Goje was elected to the Senate at the expiration of his second tenure as governor in 2011.
The Gombe Central senator is serving his fourth term and has been re-elected in 2015, 2019, and 2023 on the APC ticket.
Goje was the chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations and contested the presidency of the Senate in 2019, but stepped down in favour of Senator Lawan.
He has spent about 15 years in the Red Chamber.
Sen. Ibrahim Gobir
Gobir is a fourth-term Senator representing Sokoto East who has spent about 15 years in the Red Chamber. He was first elected in 2011. The lawmaker was appointed Senate Leader in July 2022 after his predecessor, Yahaya Abdullahi, from Kebbi State, left the APC.
He had chaired the Senate Trade and Investment Committee.
Hon. Abbas Tajudeen
The present Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Abbas Tajudeen, is also in the Green Chamber for the fourth time and has spent about 15 years in the parliament, having been first elected in 2011.
Dr Abbas, a lawmaker representing Zaria Federal Constituency in Kaduna State, is a member of the APC.
The former university don is credited with sponsoring the most bills in the 9th Assembly and with chairing the House Committee on Land Transportation.
Hon. James Abiodun Faleke
The lawmaker representing Ikeja Federal Constituency of Lagos State in the House of Representatives has been in the House of Representatives since 2011.
A member of the APC, Faleke was re-elected for the fourth time in 2023 and had jostled for the Kogi State governorship.
He was Chairman of the House Committee on Finance in the 9th Assembly, a position he retained in the 10th House.
He is in his fourth term and has served for 15 years in parliament.
Hon. Kingsley Chinda
Hon. Kingsley Chinda, a lawyer, is the lawmaker representing Obio/Akpor Federal Constituency of Rivers State.
He was elected to the Green Chamber in 2011 and is currently serving his fourth consecutive term in the 10th Assembly, having spent about 15 years in the Green Chamber.
Chinda, a member of the PDP, had served as chairman of the Public Accounts Committee and is currently Minority Leader of the House.
Source: Leadership
