Benue Assembly Gets New Speaker

With the inauguration of the 7th assembly of the Benue State House of Assembly by the state Governor Gabriel Suswam, members of the new Assembly unanimously elected Prince Terhemen Tarzoor representing Makurdi North State Constituency as its speaker.

Prince Tarzoor who was unanimously elected by the 28 members of the House, also did the same thing for his deputy Dr. Steven Onmeje representing Ado State Constituency while Hon. Paul Biam representing Ukum State Constituency and Christopher Afaor, representing Kwande East were named Majority leader and Majority whip respectively by the PDP.

The Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN has Hon. Adugu Gbileve, Buruku State constituency and Hon.Terkimbi Kangi as minority leader and minority whip respectively.

In his inaugural address, the Speaker thanked members for elevating him to the esteemed position, maintaining that it is a clear manifestation of the confidence and trust they have in him and pledged not to disappoint them.

Hon. Tarzoor extolled the quality of membership of the assembly, noting that they are professionals in diverse fields that will bring their wealth of experience to bear in impacting positively on the lives of the Benue people.

He told the members that they have been given a rare opportunity to serve the people, reminding them that such opportunity comes with a lot of responsibilities and so they should sustain their contracts with their constituencies.

The Speaker who pledged to work in harmonious relationship with the executive and judiciary, urged the two arms to also respect separation of powers as well as checks and balances.

He further promised to carry all members along irrespective of the parties they belong to.

“I assure the opposition parties that they will have their say even though the majority will always have their way. I will be everybody’s speaker,” he promised.

Tarzoor called for support and cooperation of the Benue people and staff of the assembly whom he assured that the assembly will strengthen their capacities through training and re-training programmes as well as prompt payment of their entitlements.
By Ubong George/Makurdi