Women account for just 123 of the 1,303 candidates approved by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to contest the 109 senatorial seats across the country in the 2027 National Assembly elections, representing roughly nine percent of the total field, according to the commission’s final list of candidates.
The document, which includes the names, parties, ages, gender, and qualifications of candidates from 22 political parties across all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), was signed by INEC Secretary Rose Oriaran-Anthony. It shows that men dominate the race by a wide margin, with 1,180 male candidates compared to only 123 women.
Four states—Jigawa, Nasarawa, Niger, and Yobe—had no female candidates at all across their senatorial districts. Akwa Ibom recorded the highest number of women with ten, followed by Rivers, Kwara, and Osun with seven each, and Anambra, Enugu, and Bayelsa with six apiece.
This imbalance also varies by party.
The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), which fielded the highest overall number of candidates at 109, had only four women, the same as the Action Peoples Party (APP) and the African Action Congress (AAC). The Action Democratic Party (ADP) and the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) led with 11 women each, while the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) and the Youth Party (YP) did not field any female candidates.
Among the women listed is the incumbent Kogi Central senator, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), seeking re-election against former Governor Yahaya Bello of the APC, and Nkechi Nwaogu, a former senator now running for the Abia Central seat under the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC).
The list confirms that Senate President Godswill Akpabio, Deputy Senate President Barau Jibrin, Senate Chief Whip Orji Uzor Kalu, and former Senate President Ahmed Lawan are all seeking re-election.
Akpabio is running on the APC platform for the Akwa Ibom North-West seat he currently holds, alongside 36 other candidates in the district, including another candidate with his surname, Patience Christopher Ibanga Akpabio of the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
Barau Jibrin, serving as Deputy Senate President, is listed as the APC candidate for Kano North. Kalu, the former Abia State governor now serving as Senate Chief Whip, is running for Abia North under the same party. Lawan, who presided over the Senate from 2019 to 2023, appears as the APC candidate for Yobe North, the seat he has held since returning to the chamber.
Other familiar names include former Sokoto State Governor Aliyu Wamakko, running for the Sokoto North seat on the APC platform, and Abdul Ahmed Ningi, a former senator known for his budget-padding disclosures, contesting the Bauchi Central seat under the ADC.
Candidates on the list range in age from 35 to 84 years, with an average age of about 51, as INEC moves closer to conducting the 2027 presidential and National Assembly elections.
Post a Comment