Blessing Agbebaku elected Speaker of 8th Edo House of Assembly

By Jethro Ibileke

A returnee lawmaker, Mr. Blessing Agbebaku, has emerged Speaker of the Edo State House of Assembly.

The 8th Assembly was inaugurated on Friday morning.

Agbebaku of the ruling PDP in Edo represents Owan West Constituency, had a stint as a state lawmaker between 2007 and 2011.

He was unanimously elected Speaker by the 24 members of the House.

Another PDP member-elect, Mrs. Maria Edekor (Esan North-East Constituency II), was elected as Deputy Speaker.

Edekor is a former Commissioner for Social Development and Gender Issues in the government of Governor Godwin Obaseki.

Ordinarily, the speakership position would have gone to Edo Central in line with the party’s zoning arrangement as the governor is from Edo South while the deputy is from the North Senatorial district.

The ruling PDP holds the majority in the 8th Assembly, with 14 seats, leaving the APC with eight seats and Labour Party with one.

It appears that the PDP dumped its zoning formular for the appointment of principal officers of the Assembly.

A lawmaker from the Edo Central was expected to be elected Speaker, since the Governor is from Edo South, the Deputy from the North.

In this instance, the newly elected Speaker is from Owan West, in Edo North senatorial district.

It was however gathered that the lawmaker from Edo Central who was previously penciled down for the position by the Governor’s camp (name withheld), was later dropped.

A source in the Dennis Osadebe Government House who asked not to be named, told our correspondent that the name of the anointed candidate was dropped for allegedly being sighted in the camp of the party’s South South national zonal chairman, Chief Dan Orbih in the run up to the election.