In the 25 years of the 4th Republic National Assembly, these 7 lawmakers have managed to return to parliament in every 4-year electoral circle. They are unarguably the landlords of the space. 

These lawmakers have served in the National Assembly for well over a decade. Because lawmakers in Nigeria enjoy an unlimited term by statute, unlike the executive arm, which has an eight-year term restriction, some have remained in office since Nigeria’s return to democracy 25 years ago hence the term ‘landlords’.

Even though the lawmakers may not always perform their jobs to the best of their abilities, their constituents continue to elect them to office. There is disagreement over whether it is preferable to have new legislators every four years or long-serving members. Returning members, according to some, have institutional memory of parliamentary norms and procedures in addition to their legislative experience. Below are the landlords of the National Assembly:

• Ahmad Lawan 

Senator Lawan is a landlord of landlords in the Senate. He was first elected into the House of Representatives in 1999 to represent the Bade/Jakusko federal constituency of Yobe State under the platform of the All Nigeria Peoples Party  (ANPP) and was re-elected in 2003. In 2007, he moved to the Senate, representing Yobe North Senatorial District and was re-elected in 2011, 2015, 2019 and 2023 under the platform of the All Progressive Congress (APC).

In 2015, he attempted to become the President of the Senate but failed and decided to try again in 2019 and this time, he successfully clinched the seat. The lawmaker held on to this position till the end of the 9th Assembly. Although no longer in the leadership position, he is serving his 7th term in the Senate.

• Nicholas Mutu

Representing the Bomadi/Patani federal constituency in Delta State, Nicholas Mutu has been in the House since 1999. He can be regarded as the landlord to landlords in the House. The 63-year-old served as the chairman of the House Committee on Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) between 2009 and 2019, arguably the longest time a member would head the same committee.  

Mutu, just like Lawan, the 7th-term lawmaker, has served for over two decades in the House of Representatives under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). 

• Sen. Ali Ndume

Currently serving his 6th term in the Senate, Ndume was first elected into the House of Representatives in 2003 and got re-elected in 2007 on the ANPP platform to represent Chibok/Damboa/Gwoza in Borno State.

Serving 6 consecutive terms allows him to be named as one of the landlords in the National Assembly. Ndume was elected to the Senate in 2011 on the ticket of the PDP to represent Borno South and has since remained in the Senate, though now a member of the APC. 

Ndume has served as the Minority Leader of the House, Senate Leader, Chairman Senate Committee on MDGs and Chairman Committee on Army. He lost the race for senate president to Lawan in 2019. He joined the race to head the 10th Senate but pulled out to coordinate the Godswill Akpabio/Barau Jibrin campaign for the seat of the Senate President and Deputy Senate President respectively. The lawmaker is currently the Chief Whip of the 10th Senate.

• Khadija Bukar Abba-Ibrahim

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Rep. Khadija Bukar Abba-Ibrahim was first elected in 2007 as a Member of the House of representatives to represent Damaturu, Gujba, Gulani, and Tarmuwa federal constituency in Yobe State.

She was reelected in 2011 and 2015 and in 2016 former President, Muhammadu Buhari, appointed her as the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs. On January 9, 2019, Abba-Ibrahim resigned from Buhari’s cabinet to contest for a fresh fourth term in the House and won. She was thereafter re-elected in 2023. 

Meanwhile, she and her late husband, Bukar Abba-Ibrahim, were both members of the National Assembly at some point. Interestingly, she contested against her stepson to clinch the APC ticket with which she is currently representing her constituency in the House.

• Enyinnaya Abaribe

Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe joined the National Assembly as a lawmaker representing Abia South Senatorial District in 2007 on the platform of the PDP. 

Abaribe, a former Deputy Governor of Abia State from 1999 until his resignation in March 2003, has been elected five times in the Senate since 2007 till date. In the 9th Senate, he was Senate Minority Leader until 2022 when he fell out with his party. He defected from the PDP to the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and consequently resigned as the Minority Leader of the Senate. 

He had served in various committees of the Senate, including Chairman of the Media and Publicity Committee. Presently, he serves as the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Power.

• Barau Jibrin

The current Deputy President of the Senate began his political journey in the House of Representatives in 2003 where he spent three terms and returned to private practice. At the state level, he was appointed by the Kano State Government as a member of the Kano State Business Incentive Committee in 2009. He served as the Chairman of the Kano State Investment and Properties Ltd. He was a one-time Commissioner of Science and Technology in the state.

Returning to the National Assembly in 2015, he contested and won the election for the Kano North Senatorial District on the platform of the APC and he was subsequently appointed Vice Chairman of the Senate Committee on Petroleum (Downstream). He was promoted to chair the same committee a few months later.

Jibrin was the Chairman Senate Committee on Tertiary Institutions and TETFUND in the 8th Senate and a member of the Committee on Niger Delta, Land Transportation. He was the Secretary of the Northern Senators Forum for five years (2016 to 2021).

In the 9th Senate, he was the Chairman of the Committee on Appropriations due to his background as an accountant as well as a member of the Senate Committees on Police Affairs, Industries, Environment, and Inter-Parliamentary Affairs. 

In 2023, he was re-elected for a third term in the Senate to represent the people of Kano North Senatorial District and later emerged as Deputy Senate President.

• Alhassan Ado-Doguwa

The 6th term Member, Alhassan Garba, popularly known as Alhassan Ado-Doguwa represents the Doguwa/Tudun Wada Federal Constituency of Kano State under the platform of the APC.

He was first elected to the Nigeria’s House of Representatives under the defunct Social Democratic Party (SDP) in 1992. In 2000, he was appointed as Special Adviser to the Kano State Governor on Environment and later worked as a Special Adviser on Governmental Affairs and Political Party Affairs to Senate Presidents, Chief Adolphus Wabara and Senator Ken Nnamani respectively.

Ado-Doguwa succeeded in returning to the House of Representatives in 2007 where he became the Deputy Chairman of the House Committee on Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

In 2015, he was elected to serve for the fourth term in the lower chamber where he was elected as the Chief Whip. He was also the Majority Leader of the 9th House.

Reports have it that the lawmaker was said to have made history by becoming “the first Nigerian to be sworn in as a member of the House of Representatives immediately after completing his youth service.”