The Speaker of the Edo State House of Assembly, Blessing Agbebaku, has resigned from office amid alleged corruption charges and accusations of poor leadership by members of the Assembly.
Agbebaku reportedly resigned early Monday morning after receiving information that 18 of the 24 members of the Assembly had signed a notice for his impeachment as of Sunday night.
His resignation was confirmed by his media aide, Ivy Ebojele, who said details of the resignation would be made public later.
Following his resignation, Hon. Yekini Idiaye, member representing Akoko-Edo Constituency I and a third-term member of the Assembly, emerged as the new Speaker.
Under normal circumstances, the Deputy Speaker would take over when the Speaker resigns or is impeached. However, the Assembly relied on its informal zoning arrangement, which provides that when the governor is from the Edo Central Senatorial District, deputy governor from Edo South District, the Speaker should come from the Edo North Senatorial District.
Idiaye, being the oldest member from the zone, was subsequently elected Speaker.
Addressing journalists shortly after plenary, the new Speaker accused the former
Speaker of corruption and alleged that he failed to effectively discharge the responsibilities of his office.Yekini said: “The House was inaugurated on the 16th of June, 2023 under the leadership of the formal Speaker, Hon Blessing 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 backward.”
He claimed that Agbebaku was removed by members of the House.
Yekini said: “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.
At the time of filing this report, all the members of the House had left the Assembly premises, hopping into waiting vehicles and driving away, apparently heading to the Government House.
