Senate President Godswill Akpabio has officially declared the seats of Senator Dave Umahi from Ebonyi South Senatorial District and Ibrahim Geidam from Yobe East Senatorial District vacant, following their assumption of ministerial roles.
Consequently, the Senate has urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to promptly organize by-elections to fill these vacant positions.
Umahi and Geidam, both sworn in as members of the 10th National Assembly in June, resigned from their senatorial roles in August after assuming positions in President Bola Tinubu’s cabinet. Umahi serves as the Minister of Works, while Geidam holds the position of Minister of Police Affairs.
Meanwhile, Mahmood Yakubu, the Chairman of INEC, said earlier this week that there might be re-run and bye-elections scheduled nationwide in February.
“With regard to the bye-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.
“The Commission is looking at the first week of February 2024; in just a little over one month to conduct both the re-run and bye-elections,” Yakubu had said.