Governors Who Lost Senate Election Due To Poor Performance

Five incumbent governors who had hoped to join the senate at the completion of their tenure failed to garner the support of their constituents and were denied the chance.

Governors Simon Lalong; Plateau, Okezie Ikpeazu; Abia, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi; Enugu, Samuel Ortom; Benue and Darius Ishaku; Taraba, all lost their bid to represent their senatorial constituencies in the red chamber.

The failure of the governors might not be unconnected to their abysmal performance during their eight-year stints as governors of their respective states.

Simon Lalong, Plateau

Governor Lalong’s attempt to represent Plateau South senatorial constituency failed after he lost to a first-timer, AVM Napoleon Binkap Bali (Rtd), of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Lalong who was the Director of Campaign for the All Progressive Congress Presidential Candidate, Bola Tinubu, for the February 25 presidential election was floored by AVM Bali who polled 148,844 votes to Lalong’s 91,674.

Lalong also failed to deliver Plateau state for Tinubu, with the APC presidential candidate scoring 307,195 votes while Peter Obi of the Labour Party polled 466,272 votes to win the state.

The failure of Lalong at the Senate contest might not be unconnected to what the opposition parties describe as his ‘very low performance’ as governor of the state.

The PDP in the state accused the governor of financial recklessness and mal-governance contending that Lalong’s administration received over N97 billion as revenue in the past one year and there was nothing on ground to show for it.

Okezie Ikpeazu, Abia

Governor Ikpeazu suffered a humiliating defeat during the Abia South senatorial elections, coming a distant third behind Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and Chinedu Onyeizu of the Labour Party (LP).

According to official results declared by INEC, the incumbent governor only polled 28,422 of the total votes cast. Abaribe who won the election scored 49,903 votes while Onyeizu of LP got 43,903 votes.

Ikpeazu who was part of the G5 governors – an aggrieved group in the PDP that worked against the candidacy of Atiku Abubakar – failed to inspire the majority of voters who queued behind LP and its presidential candidate, Peter Obi.

The governor is said to have underperformed despite receiving backlogs of derivation funds from President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration. The governor is also under fire for mismanaging N27.4 billion World Bank funds.

On Wednesday, a member of the Abia State House of Assembly, Obinna Ichita, requested Ikpeazu to immediately furnish him with accounting details of how the State Government utilised the funds.

The governor has also been accused of doing little to nothing in transforming the state of public infrastructure in the South Eastern state.

Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, Enugu

Governor Ugwuanyi lost the Enugu North senate seat to Okey Ezea of the Labour Party.

Ezea floored the incumbent governor winning the election by a wide margin. The LP candidate polled 104,492 votes while Ugwuanyi only got 46,948 votes.

Ugwuanyi who had spent 12 years in the House of Representatives before becoming governor for another 8 years was accused by opposition parties of owing retirees pensions and failing to provide critical infrastructure in the state.

The APC in the state also accused the governor of failing in the aspect of human capital development.

Although the governor’s defeat can be attributed to the ‘Obidient’ hurricane sweeping the southeast region, Ugwuanyi was also accused of nepotism in the way he cited projects in the Senatorial zone.

His choice of a successor in Peter Mbah also angered a section of his constituency who felt the next governor should come from Isiuzo local government.

Samuel Ortom, Benue

Governor Ortom lost his bid to represent Benue North West constituency in the senate to his former aide, Titus Zam of the PDP.

The governor polled 106,882 votes, while Zam who won the seat got 143,151 votes.

Opposition parties in the state had accused the governor of unprecedented corruption, unpaid pensions, poor performance in office, and a failure to adequately support teachers and civil servants.

Despite promising to improve the state’s workers’ welfare, infrastructure, and economy, Ortom’s critics say that little or no progress has been made in these areas.

Some have also accused Ortom of failing to adequately address the security challenges facing the state, including clashes between farmers and herders.

Darius Ishaku, Taraba

Taraba state governor, Ishaku lost his bid to move to the senate after his 8-year stint as governor to APC candidate, David Jimkuta.

The governor lost by a wide margin polling 45,708 votes against Jimkuta’s 85,415.

The leadership of the APC in the state had continuously berated the Ishaku administration, describing it as a failure.

The APC accused Ishaku of withholding local government funds, and failing to deliver affordable healthcare to residents of the state.

Taraba APC chairman, Hassan Ardo Jika, had earlier called on the governor to resign for failing to meet the expectations of the electorate as promised during the campaigns.

Critics also condemned the decision of the State House of Assembly to reduce the tenure of the local government council chairmen from three years to two years, a decision they said was influenced by Ishaku.

Ishaku was also accused of factionalizing the citizens of the state along religious lines.