Some of the longestserving members of the House of Representatives were successful in the recently concluded party primaries to contest in the 2023 general election. PHILIP NYAM reviews their stewardship

Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila

Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila is among the longest-serving members in the lower chamber. He was first elected in 2003, meaning he is spending his 19th year in the parliament. Representing Surulere I Federal Constituency of Lagos state, Gbajabiamila came to the House on the platform of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) in 2003; he was reelected in 2007 under the umbrella of Action Congress (AC) and in 2011 was elected for the third time on the ticket of Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).

In 2015 and 2019, Gbajabiamila was elected for the 4th and 5th time on the platform of the APC. He contested for the position of the speaker but lost to Hon. Yakubu Dogara. He was however lucky in 2019 when he defeated Hon. Mohammed Bago from Niger state emerged as the speaker. The speaker is one of the few legislators who had the privilege of serving both as minority and majority leaders in the same dispensation.

He was the leader of the AC and minority whip. He became minority leader between 2011 and 2015 and later majority leader from 2015 to 2019 Before then, he had served as chairman of the House committee on FAAN. He will be seeking election to the House for the 6th time in February 2023.


Hon. Nicholas Mutu

Hon. Nicholas Mutu representing the Patani/Bomadi Federal Constituency of Delta State is the longest-serving member of the House of Representatives having been first elected in 1999. He has been a legislator consecutively for 23 years. He will be seeking elections for the 7th time having again, emerged the winner of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the just concluded party primaries in the state. Announcing the election results at St. Brendan College, Bomadi, venue of the party primaries, Sunday, the Returning Officer, Mr Okemo Tilije, said that the total accredited voters were sixty and the total votes cast were fifty-nine while one vote was not cast. He said: “I announce the results as follows: sixty votes were accredited with one void vote, Hon. Basil Ganagana got twentythree votes and Hon. Nicholas Mutu scored thirty-six votes. “I hereby declare Hon. Nicholas Mutu winner of the party primaries in Patani/ Bomadi Federal Constituency.” Mutu, who is the chairman of the House committee on gas, was the chairman of the committee on NDDC in the 8th Assembly. There is no other member of the lower chamber who has spent 23 years in the parliament. The lawmaker has also never changed political party as has been consistently elected on the platform of the PDP.


Hon. Ahmed Idris

Wase Ahmed Idris Wase, the deputy speaker of the 9th Nigerian House of Representatives represents Wase Federal Constituency of Plateau State. Like Speaker Gbajabiamila, he was first elected to the House in 2003 and has since been re-elected four times. He was successful at the just concluded primaries of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and will be seeking election for the 6th time to the lower chamber.

Since coming to the House in the last 19 years, he has served as a member of the Federal Government Delegation to the 89th Session of the United Nations General Assembly held in New York, United States, 2016. He has also been a Governing Council Member of the National Institute of Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS), 2015. Before becoming deputy speaker in 2019, he had served as the chairman of the House committee on federal character and deputy leader of the House in the 8th assembly. He also worked on different committees. He is one of the longest-serving Reps and would try his popularity again in February 2023 general elections.


Hon. Alhassan Ado-Doguwa

Hon. Alhassan Ado Doguwa represents Doguwa/Tudun Wada Federal Constituency of Kano State. He is one of the only two lawmakers who had a stint with the aborted Third Republic that are still in the National Assembly. He has so far spent 16 years in the lower chamber. Doguwa was first elected to the House under the defunct SDP in 1992 and a little over one year before late Gen. Sani Abacha took over power. He was one of the frontline Members that supported the election of Engr. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso to become the deputy speaker of the 3rd Republic, House of Representatives. In 2000, Doguwa was appointed as Special Adviser to the Kano state governor on the environment.

He later worked as a special adviser on governmental affairs and political party affairs to Senate Presidents Adolphus Wabara and Senator Ken Nnamani respectively. The lawmaker succeeded in returning to the House of Representatives in 2007 where he became the deputy chairman of the House Committee on Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). Since returning to the House in 2007, he has been consistently re-elected and would put in a total of 17 years by 2023. He was also successful at the just concluded primaries and would be contesting again in 2023. He has held several positions in the House including chief Whip between 2015 and 2019 and is presently the majority leader. He had initially indicated his intention to vie for the position of the speaker in 2019 but later dropped the ambition when the APC zoned the position to the southwest. Before now, he had served as the chairman of the House Committee on MDGs. He also served as the African Network of Parliamentarians on MDGs chairman. In 2015, he campaigned vigorously for Gbajabiamila for the position of the speaker but was made chief Whip after switching his allegiance to Hon. Yakubu Dogara eventually emerged as a speaker.


Hon. Mohammed Tahir Monguno

Hon. Mohammed Tahir Monguno who represents Monguno/Marte/Nganzai Federal Constituency of Borno State is the current chief Whip of the House. He is the second Rep after Doguwa to have been part of the truncated Third Republic under the Gen. Ibrahim Babangida administration. He was first elected to the House in 1992 but after the military takeover, he went to his state. Monguno would later serve as Attorney General and commissioner for justice, commissioner for education and commissioner for water resources at different times until he returned to the House in 2007 on the platform of the ANPP. In the 8th Assembly, he was the chairman of the House committee on agricultural production and services. In his 16 years in the parliament, he has served on different committees including chairman of the committee on foreign affairs subcommittee on America and Caribbean Affairs. Although Monguno will be contesting elections in 2023, he will be seeking to move over to the Senate having won the APC primary elections for Borno north senatorial zone.


Hon. Beni Lar

Daughter of the late former national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Solomon Lar, Hon. Beni Lar is one of the two longestserving women legislators in the House. Beni, who represents Langtang North/Langtang South Federal Constituency of Plateau State was first elected to the House in 2007 on the platform of the PDP, after serving as special assistant on women affairs to President Olusegun Obasanjo. In 2008, she served as the House of Representatives chair on Women’s affairs. Between 2011 and 2015, she served as chairperson of the House committee on human rights. She is currently the chairman of the House committee on science and technology, a position she has been occupying since 2015. Beni Lar is known for leading a group of protesters in May 2014 from Nigerians Unite Against Terrorism, wearing T-shirts “with the inscription “#ReleaseOurGirls.”, showing solidarity with the Nigerian military in its efforts to rescue the victims of the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping. She will be seeking election for the 5th time to the House.


Hon. Nkeiruka Onyejeocha

Honourable Nkeiruka is the chief whip of the House of Representatives and represents Isuikwuato/Umunneochi Federal Constituency of Abia State. She is one of the longest-serving female lawmakers having been first elected a member of the lower chamber in 2007 and later re-elected in 2011 and 2015, both under the umbrella of the PDP. In 2019, she defected to the APC and was elected again. She is noted for the bill she sponsored in 2017 seeking to make emergency treatment of victims of gunshot obligatory and compulsory for hospitals without demanding or delaying treatment to first obtain police reports before commencing treatment in emergency situations. In 2019, Onyejeocha had indicated her intention to contest for the position of the speaker and her major campaign message was for the speakership position to be zoned to south-east for a balanced distribution of key federal powers among the six geopolitical zones of the country. However, the lawmaker submitted to the decision of the party to endorse Gbajabiamila from Lagos State as the consensus candidate. She served as the chairman of the House committee on women in parliament from 2007 to 2011 and was chairman of the House committee on aviation from 2011 to 2015. She was reappointed as chairman of the committee of aviation in 2015 and served until 2019. In the ongoing amendment of the 1999 constitution, Onyejeocha sponsored a bill to give women special seats in the state and National Assembly. Unfortunately, the bill did not see the light of the day. She emerged as the flag bearer of the APC in the just concluded primaries and will be seeking to return to the House for the fifth time in February 2023.


Hon. Oluwole Oke

The member of the House of Representatives representing Obokun/Oriade Federal Constituency, Busayo Oluwole-Oke (BOO) of Osun State is the chairman of the public accounts committee of the House. He is the longest-serving lawmaker from Osun State in the House and one of the longest in the House as a whole. He was first elected in 2003 and was re-elected in 2007 but failed to return in 2011. Oke, however, made a comeback in 2011 and has since won elections in 2015 and 2019. He was the chairman of the House Committee on defence between 2003 and 2011. He is seen by many as a strong pillar of PDP in Osun state as he has been winning elections in the APC controlled state since 2011. He has never defected to any party since 2003. Last month, he was returned unopposed in the primary election for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) held in Osun state for his constituency. Oke, who is serving his fourth term will be contesting to come back to the Huse for the fifth time in February 2023.


Hon Muktar Aliyu Betara

Hon Muktar Aliyu Betara is the chairman of the House of Representatives committee on appropriation and is representing Biu, Bayo, Kwaya Kusara and Shani Federal Constituency of Borno State under the platform of the All Progressives Congress. He is among the longest-serving in the House having been first elected in 2007 under the platform of the All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP). Since then, he has been re-elected three times, emerging as one of the few members to have served in the sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth assemblies with the current and immediate past tenures secured on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Between 2007 and 2011, Betara acted as chairman of the sub-committee on NDIC, banking and currency. He also served as a member of the House committee on interior and was subsequently appointed as chairman of the sub-committee on Customs, Immigration and Prisons Pension Office (CIPPO). In the seventh assembly (2011 to 2015), he served as the chairman of the House Committee on the army, directly making recommendations to empower and sustain the activities of the army against the rising insurgency in the Northern region of Nigeria. From 2015 to 2019,

Betara served as chairman of the House Committee on defence. As chairman of the committee on appropriation, the House has succeeded in restoring the January to December budget cycle. Consequently, the Appropriation Act, 2022 and the Finance Act, 2021 have been passed and enacted respectively for the third consecutive year without fail, enabling all stakeholders to prepare adequately for any fiscal changes.

He emerged unopposed as the candidate of the APC for Biu, Bayo, Kwaya/ Kusar and Shani federal constituency of Borno state. Betara recently received overwhelming support from the people of his constituency, who had contributed money to purchase the nomination and expression of interest form for him, to return to the House for the fifth term.

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https://www.newtelegraphng.com/2023-longest-serving-lawmakers-who-may-return-to-green-chambers/