Four months after he was appointed a minister for Works, the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio has declared vacant the senate seat vacated by Engr. David Umahi.
Sen. Akpabio also declared Yobe East Senatorial seat vacant, Ibrahim Geidam who occupied the seat was also appointed a minister by President Bolat Tinubu.
At plenary on Wednesday, the senate urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct elections to fill the two vacant seats.
Recall that both Umahi and Geidam were both inaugurated as members of the 10th National Assembly in June but they resigned in August after President Bola Tinubu appointed them as members of his cabinet
Engr. Umahi assumed office as the Minister of Works, Geidam is the Minister of Police Affairs.
The bye-elections according to INEC Chairman, Yakub Mahood will hold in February 2024. The INEC boss in an interactive meeting leaders of political parties had announced the dates for the elections on Tuesday.
According to the INEC Chairman, “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.”