The newly elected Speaker of the Edo State House of Assembly, Yekini Idiaye, has alleged that his predecessor, Blessing Agbebaku, was removed over poor leadership, corruption and prolonged adjournments.
Idiaye, who represents Akoko-Edo Constituency I and is a third-term lawmaker, emerged as speaker on Monday, after Agbebaku resigned amid moves by members of the assembly to impeach him.
Speaking to journalists shortly after Monday’s plenary, Idiaye accused Agbebaku of running the House poorly, alleging that his leadership has hindered the work of the state government.
According to him, the assembly has faced repeated adjournments and allegations of corruption since Agbebaku became speaker following the inauguration of the 8th Assembly in June 2023.
“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 said.
Explaining the decision to change the leadership of the Assembly, the new speaker said lawmakers were determined to support Governor Monday Okpebholo’s administration and prevent anything they considered capable of frustrating its activities.
“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,” he added.
Idiaye’s emergence was also linked to an existing zoning arrangement in the state, under which the governorship is occupied by a politician from Edo Central Senatorial District while the Speakership is expected to go to Edo North.
The lawmaker, who is the oldest member from Edo North in the assembly, was subsequently elected speaker.
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The leadership change came after Agbebaku resigned from office on Monday amid reported moves to impeach him. Sources said 17 of the 24 lawmakers had signed an impeachment notice against Agbebaku on Sunday night.
Agbebaku’s resignation was confirmed by his media aide, Ivy Ebojele, who said, “I can confirm the speaker’s resignation but details will be made public later.”
Agbebaku had yet to publicly state his reasons for resigning as of the time of filing this report, while attempts to reach him were unsuccessful as his telephone line was reportedly busy.
Following the leadership change, members of the Assembly were also said to have visited the Edo State government House to inform Governor Okpebholo of the development.
