The All Progressives Congress will firmly be in
control of the 8th House of Representatives as
the majority party with over 214 members.
There are a total of 360 seats in the second
chamber of the National Assembly.
Figures emerging from the outcome of the March
28 National Assembly poll, show that APC
members are now 214, against the Peoples
Democratic Party, which has 125 lawmakers.
The statistics gives a gap of 89 between the APC
and the PDP in favour of the former.
The figures, whichThe PUNCHobtained on
Tuesday, exclude the 11 federal constituency
seats in Jigawa State, where election has yet to
be conducted by the Independent National
Electoral Commission.
When elections for the 11 seats are conducted,
the APC will possibly get additional seats,
meaning that its numerical strength in the House
may be well above 214 at inauguration on June 6.
Three other political parties, Labour Party, the All
Progressives Grand Alliance and Accord Party,
share the balance of 10 seats, bringing the total
to 360.
The distribution of the figures shows that the
APC has the highest membership haul from the
North-West with 81 lawmakers, as against the
PDP’s zero score for now.
It is followed by the South-West, where it won 47
seats compared to the PDP’s 20.
In the North-Central, the party got 41 seats and
left eight for the PDP.
The APC’s performance in the North-East was 40
as against the seven seats won by the PDP.
The PDP’s strongest zone is the South-South,
where it produced 52 members, compared to the
APC’s three. The three seats came from Edo
State.
The current majority party won 38 seats in the
South-East, leaving only three for the APC in Imo
State.
A further breakdown indicates that the APC did
not win any seat in Ebonyi, Anambra, Enugu and
Abia states.
Same goes for the South-South states of Rivers,
Delta, Akwa Ibom, Cross Rivers and Bayelsa,
where it did not produce any lawmaker.
However, the APC took all the seats in Kano,
Katsina, Kaduna, Zamfara, Sokoto and Kebbi in
the North-West.
In its second strongest zone (South-West), it got
19 seats out of 24 in Lagos; 12 in Oyo State;
seven in Osun; five in Ondo and four in Ogun.
The PDP cleared all the six seats in Ekiti State.
In the North-Central axis, APC won all seats in
Kogi, Kwara and Niger states. It won eight out of
11 in Benue; six out of eight in Plateau; and two
out of five in Nasarawa State.
Similarly, it amassed all the seats in Bauchi and
Borno states.
But, in Adamawa, the APC has seven, the PDP
(one); Gombe, the APC has four, PDP (two);
Taraba, APC two, PDP (three); and Yobe, APC
five, PDP (one).
At the inauguration of the 7th Assembly on June
6, 2011, the PDP was in clear majority with
around 208 lawmakers. The defunct Action
Congress of Nigeria had about 70 members,
followed by the then Congress for Progressive
Change, which had around 40 lawmakers.
Following the historic merger in 2013 between the
ACN, CPC and the All Nigerian Peoples Party to
form the APC, the PDP began rapidly to lose its
control of the House.
In December of the same year, 37 PDP members
moved in one day to the APC. More defections
followed in the run up to the last elections.
It was capped on October 28, 2014, with the
defection of the Speaker, Mr. Aminu Tambuwal, a
PDP lawmaker, to the APC.
By the time the two parties went for the March 28
polls, the APC’s membership in the House had
risen to above 180, while the PDP fell to between
158 and 160.
The outcome of the polls further confirmed the
APC’s control of the House and positioned it to
produce the Speaker, Deputy Speaker, Majority
Leader, Chief Whip and Deputy Majority Leader of
the in-coming 8th Assembly.
This will turn the table against the PDP, now
demoted to minority or the main opposition party.
Commenting on the turn of events on Tuesday,
the outgoing Deputy Majority Leader, Mr. Leo
Ogor, described it as “democracy at play,” though
he assured Nigerians that the PDP would bounce
back.
APC Wins 214 House Of Reps’ Seats
APC Wins 214 House Of Reps’ Seats
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Oleh
Unknown
