SENATE President Godswill Akpabio declared the seats of Senator Dave Umahi of Ebonyi South Senatorial District and Ibrahim Geidam of Yobe East Senatorial District vacant following their appointment as ministers.
As a result, the Senate directed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to hold by-elections to fill the vacant seats as soon as possible.
Both Umahi and Geidam were elected to the 10th National Assembly in June, but resigned in August after President Bola Tinubu appointed them to his cabinet.
Geidam is the Minister of Police Affairs, while Umahi is the Minister of Works. In contrast, Simon Lalong, the former governor of Plateau State, recently resigned as Labour Minister in order to return to the Senate after a court decision confirmed him as Senator for Plateau.
“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.
