Grace Folashade Bent is a Nigeria

Nigeria

Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...

n senator who was elected in April 2007 on the People's Democratic Party

People's Democratic Party (Nigeria)

The People's Democratic Party is a political party in Nigeria. Its policies generally lie towards the right wing of the political spectrum. It has won every single Presidential elections since 1999, namely: 1999, 2003, 2007, and 2011, and is the dominant party in the Fourth Republic.-History:In...

 platform in the Adamawa South constituency of Adamawa State

Adamawa State

Adamawa is a state in northeastern Nigeria, with its capital at Yola. It was formed in 1991 from part of Gongola State with four administrative divisions namely: Adamawa, Ganye, Mubi and Numan. It is one of the thirty-six States which constitute the Federal Republic of Nigeria.-Geography:Adamawa...

.

Background

Grace Folashade Bent was born in 1960. At the University of Calabar

University of Calabar

The University of Calabar - also known as UNICAL - is a university situated in Calabar, Cross River State, southeastern Nigeria. It is one of Nigerian's second generation universities. The University of Calabar was a campus of the University of Nigeria until 1975...

 she was a students’ union activist.
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

Indiana State University

Indiana State University is a public university located in Terre Haute, Indiana, United States.The Princeton Review has named Indiana State as one of the "Best in the Midwest" seven years running, and the College of Education's Graduate Program was recently named as a 'Top 100' by U.S...

, 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.
She has published a book titled Women in Inter Ethnic Marriages in Nigeria.

According to some sources, Grace Folashade Bent was involved in obtaining fake degrees.

Career

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.
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

Mahmud Kanti Bello

Mahmud Kanti Bello is a Nigerian senator who represents the People's Democratic Party in the Katsina North Senatorial District of Katsina State, and is the Senate majority whip. He became a senator in 2003 and was reelected in 2007.-Background:...

, cautioned her not to drag the public hearing over the proposed commission into "undue arguments".

In April 2009, following a visit to South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

, Senator Bent sponsored a motion to issue a travel advice to all Nigerians traveling to South Africa to be wary of incessant attacks.

In September 2009, Grace Folashade Bent wrote a formal letter to Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Senator Mohammed Adamu Aliero

Adamu Aliero

Muhammad Adamu Aliero was governor of Kebbi State in Nigeria from 29 May 1999 to 29 May 2007. He is a member of the People's Democratic Party .He became Senator for Kebbi Central from June 5, 2007 till December 18, 2008....

, protesting the excessive felling of trees for road construction.

Bent competed in the PDP primaries to be the April 2011 candidate for Adamawa South Senator, but lost to Ahmed Hassan Barata

Ahmed Hassan Barata

Ahmed Hassan Barata is a Nigerian politician who was elected to the Adamawa South Senatorial seat in Adamawa State, Nigeria in the April 2011 federal elections...

. He received 738 votes to her 406 votes.
Bent, who was said to have been favored by the PDP party leadership, later claimed that she had won a rerun primary.
While the question was being reviewed, a judge ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission

Independent National Electoral Commission

The Independent National Electoral Commission , set up in 1998, is the electoral body which was set up to oversee elections in Nigeria.The INEC has encountered several controversies in the run-up to the April 2007 general elections, including criticism about its preparedness from Sada Abubakar,...

(INEC) to remove Barata's name from the list of candidates and replace it with Bent.
Bent's claim was later rejected by the INEC, by the Federal High Court, Abuja and by the PDP's counsel.