Nicholas Mutu, who represents the Bomadi/Patani Federal Constituency of Delta State, is Nigeria’s longest-serving member of the House of Representatives.
This feat has made him not just an iconic mutant of the current Fourth Republic but also transformed his constituency into a political monument of sorts, as many people seek to know his appeal to his constituents.
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Losing to ex-Speaker Ganagana
By 29 May 2027, when he concludes his current tenure, he will have spent unbroken 28 years in the House of Representatives.
However, Mr Mutu’s long tenure may come to an end next year, courtesy of his defeat in the All Progressives Congress (APC) House of Representatives primary contest. His conqueror is a former speaker of the Delta State House of Assembly, Basil Ganagana.
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Mr Ganagana polled 4,320 votes while Mr Mutu garnered 392 votes in the intra-party contest, according to the results announced by the Returning Officer for the primary selection, Fidelis Tilije.
Mr Mutu is contesting his defeat, alleging malpractice in the shadow poll.
Mutu and Lawan
Mr Mutu is not the only lawmaker in the 1999 inaugural set that is still in the National Assembly. Former Senate President Ahmed Lawan, who represents Yobe North, has also been in the federal parliament since 1999.
Mr Lawan spent eight years, from 1999 to 2007, representing Bade/Jakusko Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives before moving to the Senate, where he would be clocking 20 years in 2027. So, Messrs Lawan and Mutu jointly hold the record of spending the longest years in the National Assembly. What separates them is the fact that while Mr Mutu has spent his entire National Assembly years in the Green Chamber, Mr Lawan has sat in both chambers.
Like Dingell, Lawan extends the record
Unlike Mr Mutu, Mr Lawan is likely to extend the joint record, having scaled the nomination hurdle of the APC to again become its senatorial candidate for the Yobe North district.
If the Yobe-born history maker is re-elected next year, he would be spending consecutive 32 years in the National Assembly by 2031. Then, Mr Lawan would be on a similar trajectory as John Dingell (8 July, 1926 – 7 February, 2019), who served in the United States (US) Congress for over 59 years, thus making him the longest-serving congressman in US history. Mr Dingell served as a member of the US House of Representatives from 1955 until 2015, representing the Michigan constituency.
Doyen of the Green Chamber
As the longest serving member of the House of Representatives in Nigeria, Mr Mutu is the clear-cut doyen of the Green Chamber in the annals of Nigerian democracy.
The 65-year-old lawmaker chaired the House Committee on Gas Resources in the 9th National Assembly.
Mr Mutu stands out as a role model to many other lawmakers, especially in view of his relative consistency, composure and experience. The Bomadi-born politician is nuanced in legislative business and grassroots politicking. He has considerable experience in lawmaking and representative democracy.
A constituent from Bomadi, Meg Adimm, credited Mr Mutu with “many impactful constituency projects in Bomadi and Patani local government areas.” She added that the projects, including “several empowerment of youth, have contributed immensely to the improvement of living standards of our people and environment.”
An information officer in the House of Representatives who hails from the Niger Delta said while Mr Mutu may not be remembered as a lawmaker with many bills to his credit, he achieved a lot in committee work.
“As chairman of the Senate committee on NDDC, Hon Mutu was involved in oversight activities aimed at strengthening accountability within the commission and promoting development in oil-producing communities across the Niger Delta,” said the official, who asked not to be named as he has no permission to talk to journalists.
Overall, Mr Mutu was neither a versatile nor an exerting legislator. He belonged to the group of largely muted and reserved members who were more effective in the background and rarely sought the limelight and media exposure.
Secret Wand
Contesting an election in Nigeria is not a tea party but a fierce duel dotted by sundry intrigues and chicanery. What then is the secret to Mr Mutu’s longevity in the House?
His brinksmanship, plus those of many other ranking federal lawmakers, will be part of the matrix of mutant parliamentary know-how, capacities and strides garnered in 28 years of Nigeria’s unbroken civil democracy by this period next year.
Mr Mutu’s constituency falls within the Delta South Senatorial District, which is the most ethnically diverse in Delta State. The district comprises people of Ijaw, Isoko, Itsekiri, and Urhobo ethnic backgrounds. His Bomadi/Patani constituency is, however, predominantly Ijaw, and as an Ijaw-born parliamentarian, he does a lot quietly to ensure harmony in the district as well as endear himself to his constituents.
That likely explains why his constituents had consistently demonstrated their solidarity with him as their representative for nearly 28 years. But that longstanding trust ebbed and was eclipsed last Saturday as the lawmaker was literally muted by Mr Ganagana in the APC primary slugfest.
Background
Before his election to the Green Chambers in 1999 on the ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr Mutu served as chairman of Bomadi Local Government Area from 1996 to 1997.
He is a mutant of Nigeria’s evolving democratic culture that is synonymous with loyalty, political discipline and conservatism. One clear way he has demonstrated that is by remaining faithful to his original political party, the PDP. Through thick and thin, he stuck with PDP without decamping to another political party, until April last year, when Governor Sheriff Oborevwori moved virtually the entire structure and membership of PDP in the state to the APC.
Mr Mutu has served in many committees of the House. The various House Committees he has served in include: Banking and Currency, Niger Delta Affairs, Governmental Affairs, Sports, Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Niger Delta Development Commission Committee (NDDC), and Gas Resources.
Regarding his educational background, Mr Mutu attended the Rivers State School of Basic Studies, where he graduated in 1986. He then proceeded to St. Clement’s University, Caicos/Ireland, British West Indies.
Mutu and Manager
Mr Mutu’s political odyssey was to a certain extent tied to that of his Ijaw kinsman, James Manager, the senator for the Delta South District for 20 years, between 2003 and 2023. They both hail from the same local government area (Bomadi).
Mr Manager started his political career in 1991 as the chairman of Bomadi Local Government Area, while Mr Mutu started his own as the chairman of the same LGA five years later, in 1996. The former was elected to the Red Chamber in 2003, succeeding Stella Omu, an Isoko woman, who occupied the seat between 1999 and 2003.
Mr Manager’s long spell in the Senate might have played a role in Mr Mutu staying put in the House. It would have been politically incongruous for him to gun for the Senate seat against his “elder “brother (Mr Manager) during the lengthy years that the latter was in the Red Chamber. Mr Manager left the Senate to contest for the Delta State governorship seat in 2023, which he lost at the party nomination level.
Adept in political calculation, Mr Mutu knew it would have been imprudent for him to run for the Senate in 2023 to take over from his Ijaw and Bomadi kinsman in a senatorial district that has at least three other ethnic groups in large numbers – Itserkiri, Isoko, and Urhobo. It was likely that the rest of the groups would have teamed up against him.
His permutation was apt, as he got reelected for a record seventh tenure while the PDP senatorial candidate was defeated by his APC opponent. Joel-Onowakpo Thomas of the APC is the incumbent senator representing Mr Mutu’s Delta South senatorial district. Mr Onowakpo, an indigene of Isoko South Local Government Area, defeated Michael Diden, popularly known as Ejele of the PDP, in the 2023 election to take over from Mr Manager. Mr Onowakpo has already secured APC’s ticket as the party’s candidate for Delta South in the coming 2027 election.
EFCC Charges
Mr Mutu faces allegations of corruption and sleaze. He is being prosecuted at the Federal High Court, Abuja, by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), alongside Airworld Technologies Ltd and Oyien Homes, on a 13- count charge of money laundering and gratification to the tune of N320 million.
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The lawmaker allegedly committed the offences between August 2014 and August 2016 when he served as the chairman of the House Committee on the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). The last time the case was heard by Giwa Ogunbanjo, a Federal High Court judge in Abuja, was on 23 March.
Next political direction
Mr Mutu is not bowing out without a fight. He has reportedly protested the conduct and outcome of the APC primary in his constituency. He alleged that the process was fraudulent and therefore the outcome did not reflect the position of the majority. Whether his protest would succeed or fail is left to be seen in due course.
In all, Mr Mutu’s experience of nearly three decades in parliament has made him an authority and icon of sorts. This is so about the intricacies of legislative business and the functioning of the National Assembly and the House of Representatives in particular.
Having lost out ahead of the 2027 polls, the lawmaker has a big decision to make against 2031 – whether to throw his hat into the ring for the Delta State governorship bout, gun for the Senate, or stay away from political contests. After his political setback through defeat in the APC primary, Mr Mutu’s next move remains in the womb of time.
