The Speaker of the Edo State House of Assembly, Blessing Agbebaku, has resigned from his position amid moves by some lawmakers to impeach him.
Agbebaku stepped down on Monday, with his resignation confirmed by his media aide, Ivy Ebojele, in a Facebook post.
“EDO ASSEMBLY SPEAKER RT HON CHIEF BLESSING AGBEBAKU RESIGNS,” Ebojele wrote, adding that further details on the circumstances surrounding his exit would be made public later.
Following his resignation, Yekini Idiaye, representing Akoko-Edo Constituency 1, emerged as the new Speaker of the Edo State House of Assembly.
Idiaye is a third-term member of the Assembly and takes over the leadership of the legislative chamber after Agbebaku’s departure.
His emergence was based on the Assembly’s zoning arrangement, which provides that when the governor comes from the Edo Central Senatorial District, the Speaker should come from Edo North Senatorial District.
Idiaye, described as the oldest member from the Edo North zone, was subsequently selected as Speaker.
Under normal circumstances, the Deputy Speaker would have automatically succeeded Agbebaku, but lawmakers relied on the existing zoning arrangement in choosing his replacement.
Speaking to journalists shortly after Monday’s plenary, Idiaye accused the former Speaker of poor leadership and alleged corruption within the Assembly.
He said the House, which was inaugurated on June 16, 2023, had experienced several challenges under Agbebaku’s leadership, including repeated adjournments and alleged corruption.
“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,” Idiaye said.
He criticised Agbebaku’s leadership style, describing it as poor and alleging that it had affected the progress of the state government.
According to Idiaye, the former Speaker was removed by members of the Assembly because they were dissatisfied with his leadership.
He also pledged that the new leadership would support Governor Monday Okpebholo’s administration and work to advance the state’s development.
“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,” Idiaye said.
The new Speaker assured that the Assembly would do everything possible to support Okpebholo in moving the state forward.
Members of the Assembly were at the Edo State Government House on Monday to formally inform Governor Okpebholo of the change in legislative leadership.
Meanwhile, attempts to obtain a response from the former Speaker were unsuccessful.
When contacted by telephone, Agbebaku’s line was busy, while his media aide, Ebojele, had yet to issue a further statement explaining the circumstances surrounding his resignation.
