2027: Women make up just 9% of 1,303 candidates on INEC’s final Senate list
By Omeiza Ajayi
ABUJA: Women account for only 123 of the 1,303 candidates cleared by the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC to contest the 109 senatorial seats nationwide 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 captures the names, parties, ages, gender and qualifications of candidates drawn from 22 political parties across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory FCT, was signed by the Secretary of INEC, Rose Oriaran-Anthony. It shows that men dominate the race by a wide margin, with 1,180 male candidates against the 123 women cleared to run.
Four states, Jigawa, Nasarawa, Niger and Yobe, returned no female candidate at all across their senatorial districts, while 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.
The imbalance also plays out along party lines. The ruling All Progressives Congress APC, which fielded the highest number of candidates overall with 109, presented only four women, the same number as the Action Peoples Party APP and the Afrucan Action Congress AAC. The Action Democratic Party ADP and the Allied Peoples Movement APM led the pack with 11 women each, while the Peoples Redemption Party PRP and the Youth Party YP fielded no female candidates whatsoever.
Among the women on the list is the incumbent Kogi Central senator, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan of the Peoples Democratic Party PDP, who is 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.
It shows Akpabio contesting on the platform of the All Progressives Congress APC for the Akwa Ibom North-West seat he currently occupies, alongside 36 other candidates in the district, including a fellow contestant bearing his surname, Patience Christopher Ibanga Akpabio of the African Democratic Congress ADC.
Barau Jibrin, who doubles as Deputy Senate President, is listed as the APC candidate for Kano North, while Kalu, the former Abia State governor now serving as Senate Chief Whip, is on the ballot for Abia North under the same party. Lawan, who presided over the Senate between 2019 and 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, who is 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.
The post 2027: Women make up just 9% of 1,303 candidates on INEC’s final Senate list appeared first on Vanguard News.