Blessing Agbebaku and Maria Edeko on Monday retained their positions as the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker of the Edo State of Assembly after a minor leadership shuffle.
DAILY POST reports that the duo who are members of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, retained their positions following the implementation of a letter sent to the House by the state leadership of the All Progressives Congress, APC.
Agbebaku who read the letter addressed to him by the acting state chairman of APC, Jarret Tenebe, however, announced a minor change in the principal officers of the House.
Charity Aiguobarueghian, PDP, Ovia North-East I, Natasha Osawaru Irobosa, PDP, Egor, and Yekini Idaiye, PDP, Akoko-Edo I, were removed as the Majority Leader, Deputy Leader and Chief Whip of the House, respectively.
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The trio were replaced with Ibhamawu Jonathan Aigbokhan, APC, Esan West as Majority Leader, Addeh Emakhu Isibor, APC, Esan North-East I, and Lecky Hussein Mustapha, APC, Etsako West I as Deputy Leader and Chief Whip of the House, respectively.
The position of the Deputy Chief Whip earlier given to Richard Edosa, Oredo West constituency, was eventually cancelled as there was no such position in the legislature.
The letter dated April 7, 2025, titled ‘Nomination of Principal Officers of the Edo State House of Assembly', was signed by Tenebe, state acting chairman of APC and Lawrence Okah, the secretary.
Parts of the letter read: “We write to refer you to our earlier correspondence dated 14th March, 2025 to your office notifying you of the majority status of our party, the All Progressives Congress, APC, in the Edo State House of Assembly.
“Consequently, we hereby forward to you the party's nomination of principal officers' position in the House.
“Majority Leader, Hon Ibhamawu Jonathan Aigbokhan, Esan West constituency, Deputy Majority Leader, Hon Emakhu Addeh Isibor, Esan North-East I, and Chief Whip, Hon Lecky Hussein Mustapha, Etsako West constituency.”
The majority leader and deputy majority leader are from Edo Central Senatorial District while the Chief Whip, Lecky Hussein Mustapha, is from Edo North Senatorial District.
Recall that Richard Edosa was the only lawmaker elected on the platform of the Labour Party but he recently defected to the APC.
The Speaker, Agbebaku disclosed that the PDP would also bring its list of nominees of principal officers to the House.
He noted that his position as the Speaker and that of the Deputy Speaker were not guaranteed in the ongoing leadership change in the House.
