29th May, 2015
Only eight out of the 109 senators who will serve in the 8th National Assembly are women, NAN reports.
Five of the female senators were elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) while three are members of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The PDP senators-elect are Stella Oduah (Anambra North), Uche Ekwunife (Anambra Central), Rose Oko (Cross River North), Abiodun Olujimi (Ekiti South) and Fatimat Raji-Rasaki (Ekiti Central).
Those elected of APC platform are Oluremi Tinubu (Lagos Central), Binta Garba (Adamawa North) and the incumbent Speaker of the Oyo State House of Assembly, Alhaja Monsurat Sunmonu.
An examination of the list of the female senators-elect showed that all of them, except Sen. Tinubu, are new members of the Red Chamber.
Statistics on the number of senators-elect for the 8th assembly revealed that 79 senators or 72 per cent are new while 30 senators or 28 per cent are old
members returning for different terms in the upper chamber.
According to the statistics, APC with 61 senators or 56 per cent of the total number of senators will enjoy simple majority control in the chamber as against 44 per cent or 48 senators it has in the outgoing 7th Assembly.
The reverse is the case for PDP, which lost its majority status in the Upper Chamber with 48 senators-elect as against 61 senators in the outgoing 7th assembly.