According to the Nigerian constitution, there is no limit to the number of terms an individual can serve as a legislator in either the State or both chamber of the National Assembly provided they continue to be reelected back by their constituents in this piece we are focusing on three lawmakers  who have been in the National Assembly for 20 years. Having been elected for a record of fifth time.

 

Senator David Mark 

Senator David Alechenu Bonaventure Mark, the senator representing  Benue South senatorial district in the upper legislative chamber of the National Assembly who was a former Senate President has been in the chamber since the country returned to democratic rule in 1999 when he was elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

He served under the Gen. Ibrahim Babangida military government as a governor of Niger State and  minister of communications. In 2007 He was elected as the Senate President and Chairman of the National Assembly a position he occupied for eight years.

He stood in for reelection in the year 2003, 2007, 2011, and 2015 and he was subsequently reelected on all six occasions by his constituents. But in 2016 his election was annulled by the tribunal and he was forced to face a re-run which he won squarely. Senator David Mark was elected senator for a record fifth term which will expire on June 9, 2019 after which he would retire from the Red Chamber.  In a statement by his spokesman, Paul Mumeh, his principal will leave the Senate a fulfilled man after 20 years of meritorious service to his people and the country as a whole.

The well respected lawmaker voluntarily decided to make way for one of his loyalist . “He is being succeeded by his political son, Comrade Abba Moro, while his daughter, Lady Blessing Onuh, goes to the House of Representatives. No doubt, Senator Mark is bowing out gloriously,” Mumeh disclosed.

Senator Ahmad Lawan

Senator Ahmed Ibrahim Lawan representing Yobe North Senatorial district. The senior lawmaker is the candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) ahead of the incoming 9th National Assembly. He was first elected on the platform of the All Peoples Party (APP), which transmuted to All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and later merged with others to form the now ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2014.

His 20 years in the National Assembly complex has been an accumulation of different terms in both the Senate and the House of Representative. He was initially in the House of Representatives before scaling up to the Senate. He was in the House of Representatives for two terms – from 1999 to 2007, before his election to the Senate.

He is an erudite scholar with a PhD in Remote Sensing. Lawan disclosed that what has kept him going and why his people have reposed their confidence in him for 20 years and counting “I will tell you a short story,” he said. ”When I ran in 1999 for the House of Representatives, I ran on the basis of coming to the National Assembly to represent my people well. I had a very good job after my training; I didn’t lack. So when I came in 1999, I told myself I’m going to remain the person that is coming to the National Assembly, that I was not going to become a politician.

“I will tell everybody the truth, I would have to struggle to find out how to put it but I must tell people the truth. Where requests will be made that I know are not possible, I will tell people that it is not possible, either it is not my role or I’m not in a position to do it, but I also worked so hard. Thank God to my colleagues in the House who supported me to ensure that my people were not cheated or shortchanged in the federal administration. Before I came in 1999 to the House, there was an incident in my place, the National Park Service declared a section of flood plain in my constituency, they stopped people from farming, rearing their animals and fishing because birds were coming there annually and they still do. ”

Hon Nicholas Mutu 

Hon Nicholas Ebomo Mutu came to the House of Representatives on the platform of the PDP in 1999. He won election to represent Bomadi/Patani Federal Constituency of Delta State at the age of 39. And since then he has been winning elections – in 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015 and 2019. Just like Senator Lawan, Hon. Nicholas Mutu attended Rivers State School of Basic Studies where he graduated in 1986. He proceeded to St. Clements University Caicos/Irland,

British West Indies, and graduated in 2003. He was the chairman of Bomadi Local Government Area of Delta State from 1996 to 1997 before being elected into the House of Representatives in 1999, where he has served in various House Committees including Banking & Currency, Niger Delta, Governmental Affairs, Sports, and Federal Capital Territory. He is currently the Chairman, House Committees on Niger Delta Development Commission and Niger Delta Affairs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

SOURCE: LEADERSHIP NEWSPAPER, WIKIPEDIA

 

 

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