Amanda Pam

Amanda Pam (INEC name: Austenpeters-Pam Iyabode Amanda; the NDC calls her Barr. Austen-Peter Pam Iyabode Amanda, "Mama Amanda") is the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) candidate for the Federal Capital Territory Senatorial District in the Senate election of 16 January 2027 (INEC final list, 12 September 2026). INEC lists her as a 66-year-old woman whose declared qualifications are WAEC and an LLB; she is a lawyer, styled Barrister in FCT Administration and court records. Vanguard and an NDC statement describe her as a former Deputy National Legal Adviser of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP); Punch calls the post National Legal Adviser and dates it to 2003, and the NDC says she first ran for the House of Representatives in 2003 on the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP). Neither claim was confirmed by a contemporaneous source. By 2015 she was in the All Progressives Congress (APC) as an aspirant from Wuse ward for the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) chairmanship; she was disqualified before the primary of 16 December 2015, and her suit against the party, INEC and eight aspirants was struck out by the FCT High Court for lack of jurisdiction in February 2016. She is also the lead plaintiff, as proprietor of Suez Garden, in a suit by Abuja garden owners against the FCT Minister (CV/408/2008, FCT High Court), which their lawyers said in July 2022 was pending with terms of settlement ordered to be filed. FCT Minister Muhammad Bello appointed her Mandate Secretary for Health and Human Services on 18 September 2017 and swore her in on 25 September 2017. She sought the APC ticket for the AMAC/Bwari House of Representatives seat; the October 2018 primary was declared inconclusive and party chairman Adams Oshiomhole declared her the flag bearer, which ten rival aspirants rejected, alleging she was not a party member. By November 2018 she had been redeployed to the FCT Social Development Secretariat; when that post ended was not found. At the election of 23 February 2019 she polled 82,761 votes to 174,377 for Micah Jiba of the PDP (INEC). The election petition tribunal dismissed her and the APC's petition against Jiba on 11 September 2019 for lack of merit. By 2026 she was in the African Democratic Congress (ADC); on 15 March 2026 the FCT ADC suspended her and two other Wuse ward executives, accusing them of spearheading the purported suspension of Senator Ireti Kingibe. On 3 April 2026 she led ADC, Labour Party and SDP defectors into the NDC at the Abuja residence of its national leader, Seriake Dickson. At the NDC's National Assembly primaries and affirmations of 29 May 2026 she emerged as its FCT senatorial candidate. Activist Aisha Yesufu, who had sought the ticket, alleged the process was manipulated (she had earlier said the party would not hold a primary for the seat) but did not petition; supporters of another aspirant pressed the party in June 2026 to name its candidate, and on 6 August 2026 Ibrahim Ado Iliyasu served pre-action notices on INEC and the NDC claiming the ticket had been unlawfully withdrawn from him. INEC's final list of 12 September 2026 carries her as the NDC candidate.