The former governors who are senators in the 10th National Assembly are: Danjuma Goje, who was governor of Gombe State between 2003 and 2011 and won elections to the Senate after leaving office and has retained the seat since then.

There’s also the former governor of Akwa Ibom State, Godswill Akpabio, who is the President of the Senate. He won the election to represent North-West in the eighth Assembly and became the minority leader then, contested in 2023 and won to attain his current position.

Other former governor is Simon Lalong of Plateau State, who is currently representing the Southern senatorial zone of his state. Former Governor of Gombe State, Ibrahim Dankwambo is also in the Red Chamber representing Gombe North Senatorial District; Abubakar Sani Bello, former governor of Niger State representing Niger North; Seriake Dickson, former governor of Bayelsa State, representing Bayelsa West; Gbenga Daniels, former governor of Ogun State; Orji Uzor Kalu, former governor of Abia State; Adams Oshiomhole, former governor of Edo State;  Adamu Aleiro,ex-governor of Kebbi State,  Abdulaziz Yari, former governor of Zamfara State, representing Zamfara West Senatorial District and Magtakarda Aliu Wamakko, former governor of Sokoto State.

The immediate past governor of Ebonyi State, Dave Umahi and former governor of Yobe, Ibrahim Gaidam, also won elections to the Senate but were appointed ministers along the line and had to vacate their seats.

Aleiro holds the highest record of former governors returning to the senate, as he has been there since 2007, leaving only briefly when he was appointed minister during the Umaru Yar’adua administration. But Yari, Lalong, Sani Bello, Oshiomhole and Gbenga Daniles are serving their first tenure in the Red Chamber.

Due to the high number of governors who have chosen to go to the Senate after leaving Government House, the Red Chamber has been described by some persons as a retirement home for governors.

Analysts say the governors choose to go to the Senate after leaving office because it sustains their relevance in politics and keeps them within the power loop.

Other reasons advanced are that having benefited from the perks in office as governors, it offer them a sense of power and a soft landing from the drastic transformation to ordinary citizens.

Other former governors who have gone the same path in the past include Vice President Kashim Shettima from Borno; George Akume and Gabriel Suswam from Benue; Chimaroke Nnamani from Enugu; Theodore Orji from Abia; Joshua Dariye, Plateau; Abdulalhi Adamu and Tanko Al-Makura of Nasarawa; Jonah Jang, Plateau; Sani Yerima from Zamfara State, Ahmed Makarfi of Kaduna State and Bukola Saraki, Kwara.

Late Senator Isiaka Adeleke and Bukar Abba Ibrahim, on the other hand, were governors of Osun and Yobe, respectively, in 1992 and later won elections to the Senate and represented Osun West between 2007 to 2011.

Those that attempted and either lost or withdrew in previous elections are: Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta, Samuel Ortom, Benue; Abdulfatai Ahmed, Kwara and Sullivan Chime, Enugu.

Second republic governors who were in the Senate include Melford Okilo, Jim Nwobodo,

Associate Professor of Political Science, Kayode Esuola, said in theory, it should be something that should be encouraged because finishing from the position of the governor gives them the opportunity to understand the system.

He said, “However, because of the practical situation in which everybody in Nigeria, you don’t need the wisdom of Solomon, knows that they are going there for the largesse, immunity advantage. What will shield them from their undoing, and two, to continue amassing wealth for themselves at the expense of the Nigerian people.”

Gombe State is currently being represented by two of its former governors, Goje and Dankwambo. While in Plateau, three of its former governors have been to the Senate at different times, but two of them were in the  Senate at the same time (2015-2019), Jonah Jang (Plateau North), Joshua Dariye (Plateau Central).

In the same vein, former governors Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso for Kano Central, and Kabiru Ibrahim Gaya for Kano South, were in the Senate at the same time, while Umaru Tanko Al-Makura (representing Nasarawa South), Abdullahi Adamu (representing Nasarawa West) were also in the Senate at the same time.