Edo House of Assembly Gets New Speaker After Leadership Change

The new Speaker of the Edo State House of Assembly, Yekini Idiaye, has explained that his predecessor, Blessing Agbebaku, was removed by lawmakers due to claims of bad leadership and corruption.

Idiaye, who is from Akoko-Edo Constituency I and is serving his third term, was elected as Speaker on Monday. This happened after Agbebaku resigned amid plans by lawmakers to impeach him.

Speaking to journalists after the plenary session on Monday, Idiaye accused Agbebaku of poor leadership. He claimed Agbebaku's time in office was marked by corruption and frequent adjournments.

He said, "The House was inaugurated on the 16th of June, 2023 under the leadership of Agbebaku, and since then we have been passing through a lot of challenges, corruption here and there, adjournment here and there, sometimes for 30 days without a cause. We are not happy with his leadership style. His leadership is poor, and it has been drawing the work of the government backwards."

Idiaye went on to say, "That is why we removed him. We must encourage our performing governor. He is doing well, anything that will derail or stop our performing governor, we must stop it. That is why we changed him. I can assure all of you that we will do everything possible to support Governor Monday Okpebholo to move this state forward."

Idiaye’s election was also based on the Assembly’s zoning policy. This policy states that when the governor is from Edo Central Senatorial District, the Speaker should come from Edo North.

As the oldest member from Edo North, Idiaye was chosen as Speaker.

PUNCH Online found out that Assembly members visited the Government House to inform Governor Monday Okpebholo about the leadership change.

Agbebaku reportedly resigned earlier on Monday after lawmakers began moves to impeach him. PUNCH Online learned that 17 out of the 24 lawmakers had signed an impeachment notice against him on Sunday night.

His resignation was confirmed by his media aide, Ivy Ebojele. She stated, "I can confirm the Speaker’s resignation but details will be made public later."

When reached for comment, Agbebaku’s phone line was busy, and Ebojele had not provided any further updates on the reasons for his resignation.