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Ethnicity, religion influenced outcome of Nigeria’s parliamentary election – Gbajabiamila
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, said on Tuesday ethnicity and religion influenced the outcome of last month’s parliamentary election.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) retained control of the parliament with 57 and 162 members in the Senate and House of Representatives respectively.
However, the Labour Party surprised many after winning seven Senate seats and 34 in the House of Representatives for the next dispensation.
Gbajabiamila, who spoke at a meeting with members of the House of Reps Press Corps in Abuja, lamented that Nigerians jettisoned merit for ethnicity and religious considerations in electing their representatives in the last election.
READ ALSO: Gbajabiamila re-elected into House of Reps for 6th time
He hinted that the National Assembly would further review the Electoral Act 2022 signed by President Muhammadu Buhari in February last year.
The speaker said: “In the last election, I will say many were unlucky and some lucky because this was not as it should be; not so much about the performance of members whether on the floor or in their constituencies.
“It was about a lot of other things. It was about religion. It was about ethnicity. It was about so many other things which I hope that as we develop as a nation, one’s election would be based solely, or at least mostly, on his or her performance on the floor and in the constituency.”
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