1, 537 candidates contest elections for 469 NASS seats

No fewer than 1,537 candidates from 28 political parties are expected to contest elections for the 469 seats in the National Assembly in Saturday’s national elections, available information shows. 

Details released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) show that 747 are contesting elections for the 109 seats in the Senate and 1,790 are contesting for the 360 seats in the House of Representatives. 

Among the Senate election candidates are 126 women and 621 men, while 254 women are among those contesting to be members of the House of Representatives. .

A breakdown of the list shows that no female candidate is contesting election into the Senate in  Edo, Gombe, Jigawa, kastina, Kebbi, Nasarawa, Ondo and Yobe states.

NASS approves $53 benchmark for 2015 budget

The two chambers of the National Assembly, has approved 53 dollars as benchmark for the sale of crude oil for the 2015 budget and the 2015 - 2017 Medium Term Expenditure Framework.

Rep. Victor Ogene, Deputy Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Media and Public Affairs, made the disclosure on Thursday in Abuja in an interview with newsmen.

He said that a resolution by the conference committee of legislators from both chambers of the National Assembly also adopted an exchange rate of N190 to one dollar.

Ndoma-Egba petitions PDP over NASS primaries in Cross River

Sen. Ndoma-Egba

The Senate Leader, Chief Victor Ndoma-Egba, has petitioned the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) National Assembly Electoral Appeal Panel, alleging “lapses and irregularities” at the Cross River Central Senatorial primaries.

The party’s primaries for the district held on Dec. 7 in Ikom, where Rep. John Owan-Enoh, member representing Etung/Obubra Federal Constituency, was declared winner by the PDP Electoral Panel.

But in a petition addressed to the appeal panel Chairman, Ndoma-Egba said the exercise was “fundamentally and fatally flawed as it fell short of the minimum integrity for an electoral process.

He also stated in the petition, dated Dec. 8, that “the exercise was in complete disregard of the PDP’s Guidelines for Primary Election 2014”.

He said that the list of delegates used for the primaries was not made public.