| Grace Folashade Bent | |
|---|---|
| National Senator for Adamawa South | |
| In office May 2007 – May 2011 |
|
| Preceded by | Jonathan Zwingina |
| Succeeded by | Ahmed Hassan Barata |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 25 October 1960 |
| Political party | People's Democratic Party (PDP) |
| Spouse(s) | Jackson Bent |
| Profession | Politician |
Grace Folashade Bent (born 25 October 1960) is a Nigerian senator who was elected in April 2007 on the People's Democratic Party platform in the Adamawa South constituency of Adamawa State.[1]
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Grace Folashade Bent was born in 1960. At the University of Calabar she was a students’ union activist.[2] She received a BA (Hons) in English and Literay Studies in 1998, and an MSc in Political Science and International Relations in 2003. She has a doctorate of Public Administration from Indiana State University, USA. Before entering the senate, Grace Folashade Bent was political adviser to the PDP National Chairman, Audu Ogbeh, Assistance Producer for NTA Kaduna, and Managing Director of Jack Ventures Nigeria.[1] She has published a book titled Women in Inter Ethnic Marriages in Nigeria.[3]
According to some sources, Grace Folashade Bent was involved in obtaining fake degrees.[4][5]
After election in 2007 Grace Folashade Bent became chair of the Senate Committee on Environment. In this role, she was involved in controversy over an extension of permission for gas flaring granted to oil companies by president Umaru Yar'Adua without consultation with the Senate.[6] In March 2009, Senator Bent opposed the establishment of a Desert Control Commission on the basis that this would subsume or duplicate the functions of the national committee on ecological problems. The senate whip, Mahmud Kanti Bello, cautioned her not to drag the public hearing over the proposed commission into "undue arguments".[7]
In April 2009, following a visit to South Africa, Senator Bent sponsored a motion to issue a travel advice to all Nigerians traveling to South Africa to be wary of incessant attacks.[8]
In September 2009, Grace Folashade Bent wrote a formal letter to Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Senator Mohammed Adamu Aliero, protesting the excessive felling of trees for road construction.[9]
Bent competed in the PDP primaries to be the April 2011 candidate for Adamawa South Senator, but lost to Ahmed Hassan Barata. He received 738 votes to her 406 votes.[10] Bent, who was said to have been favored by the PDP party leadership, later claimed that she had won a rerun primary.[11] While the question was being reviewed, a judge ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to remove Barata's name from the list of candidates and replace it with Bent.[12] Bent's claim was later rejected by the INEC, by the Federal High Court, Abuja and by the PDP's counsel.[11]