The race of who becomes the next Speaker of the Ondo State House of Assembly has begun, with different legislators springing up their heads to take the mantle of leadership of the vacant seat.
The race of who becomes the next Speaker of the Ondo State House of Assembly has begun, with different legislators springing up their heads to take the mantle of leadership of the vacant seat.
The House is currently hit with lobbies by lawmakers on who must succeed the immediate past Speaker of the House, Rt. Houourable Samuel Ajayi Adesina, who died in February. His death was the result of cancer of the ‘Urinary Bladder’ which he battled with for six months.
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The death of the Odigbo-born speaker was shocking and painful to the marrow in political circles. But Samuel Ajayi Adesina’s death now means ‘nothing’ to many of the Twenty-five (25) lawmakers, as they are now involved in a series of heated arguments among themselves over who will lead parliament house.
SaharaReporters learned that prior to the death of the Speaker, his deputy, Hon. Dare Emiola Francis, representing the Akoko South West Constituency I area of the State, has been holding forth as the Speaker. But many of his fellow parliamentarians were opposed to his rise. Yet the law has to take its place, say political observers, with Dare Emiola Francis being legally the next-in-line for the position of Speaker.
There had been rumours across the state, and beyond, on two occasions that Hon. Adesina had died. These series of rumours necessitated the Leadership of the House to publicly debunk the rumour that the number three man of the state was not dead.
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It was learned by SaharaReporters that the House leadership had mounted pressure on the Deputy Speaker to, what some call, ‘mischievously’ put a call through to the Speaker on the day of the 2014 Appropriation Bill. The Bill was presented by the state governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, to publicly telephone the former speaker as this would denounce rumour of his death.
But it didn't go down well, as just a few days before placement of the purported call, Hon. Adesina had lost his battle with cancer.
The Ondo State government, in a statement signed by the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Dr. Aderotimi Adelola, had described Adesina’s passage as a “great loss to the state,” describing him has a man who placed the interest of the state above his personal consideration, and had declared a seven-day mourning for the now deceased lawmaker.
In part the statement read, “during his life time, he was a bridge builder, a man of integrity and a reliable team player, who placed the interest of the state above personal consideration. The untimely death of the speaker occurred during a protracted battle with the cancer of the urinary bladder.”
However, members of the ruling Labour Party (LP) in the Assembly are now working on a successor. They are feverishly working on a candidate ensuring the vacant position is filed by someone who would be loyal, faithful, and committed to the party. Party members have now formed camps and caucuses amongst themselves, with blueprints of various strategies to win the speakership seat.
Our Correspondent has learned that the Speakership position might be targeted to the Southern Senatorial district of the state.
An administrative worker and Secretary to one of the lawmakers told us, on the condition of anonymity, that several meetings were held for just that purpose. One recent meeting was held in one Lawmaker’s residence, where a decision was taken to mobilize some of the other members of parliament to support a candidate from the Southern Senatorial district of the state to hold the Speakership position.
The corps of the lawmakers, it was gathered from their meeting afterwards, wants the status quo to be maintained. That means keeping in place the current zoning formula which delivers the position of the speaker to the Southern part of the state, and so, goes the thinking, in order not to destabilize the already existing political calculations of the state.
The former speaker of the house was the Hon. Taofeek Abdusalam, who was a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and hails from Ikare Akoko, in the Northern Senatorial district of the state. He was impeached from the seat on the inception of the present government of the Labour Party (LP) led by Governor Olusegun Mimiko in 2009.
The impeachment of Abdusalam was said to ‘right’ many wrongs, and at the time eliminated ‘political awkwardness,’ where a Speaker and the Deputy Governor come from the same Senatorial district and, the thinking among political insiders, this does not bode well for the politics of the state.
Governor Mimiko is from the Central Senatorial district of Ondo town, his deputy governor, Alhaji Ali Olanusi, is from the Northern Senatorial district of Ikare Akoko, while the late Speaker, Adesina, was from the Southern Senatorial district, known as Oniparaga.
Yet, for many lawmakers not wanting to be short-changed from the governance of the state, many Southern elected officials still believe that the Speakership post should remain with them, and should be filled by somebody from their area in line with the current zoning arrangement in the state.
Some lawmakers from the southern senatorial district were said to have expressed the desire to become the next Speaker of the House, but with that, there are fears of having a divided house.
Names of the Lawmakers listed in the Sunshine House of Assembly from the Southern Senatorial district of the state, was obtained by SaharaReporters.
Those names appear below.
Hon. Iwalewa Afolabi from Irele Constituency; Hon. Edema Olugbenga Omogbemi from Ilaje Constituency II; Hon. Aladetan Oyebo (JP) from Ilaje Constituency I; Hon. (Prince) Akinwe Victor Adesulu from Odigbo Constituency II; Hon. Akpoebi Lubi Ebielatei from Ese-Odo Constituency; Hon. (Barri) Princess Akindele Jumoke Yetunde from Okitipupa Constituency II; Hon. Akinkurolere Soji David from Okitipupa Constituency I; and Hon.Gbemibade Adetoro Folagbade from Ile-Oluji/Okeigbo. The Hon. Akpoebi Lubi Ebielatei from the Ese-Odo Constituency is the only member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the House and he is the Minority Leader.
Countless numbers of times, say long-time House staff, the Hon. Akpoebi of the PDP had been pressured to join forces with the Labour Party, but he has steadfastly refused.
A SaharaReporters investigation revealed that only two out of the nine members from the Southern Senatorial district are in their second term.
They are: Hon. Aladetan Oyebo (JP) from Ilaje Constituency I and Hon. (Prince) Akinwe Victor Adesulu from Odigbo Constituency II.
An analysis of the political map revealed that if the status quo, and the tradition of appointing the Speaker are considered from the Southern district, only the two of them might be pencilled-in for the position, and one person out of the two might emerge as the speaker.
But if the party decides to throw the contest open, all except Hon. Akpoebi Lubi Ebielatei from Ese-Odo Constituency, who happened to be a member of the Peoples Democratic Party, would be qualified to contest for the seat.
Indigenes from Odigbo who have been following the trend of politics in the State House of Assembly are of the opinion that since the late speaker hails from Odigbo, it will be fair to retain the seat in the local government so that Hon. Akinwe may emerge as the next speaker.
Hon. Akinwe is a ranking lawmaker in his second term in the Assembly, and he is from the other half of Odigbo, where the late Speaker, Adesina, hailed from.
Akinwe was in the Assembly between 1999 and 2003, and later came back in 2011 after the general election. There had been some thought that the Labour Party leadership might want to change hands in the House to appoint another Speaker before the death of Hon. Adesina, and a majority had believed that the cap would fit Hon. Akinwe. He was also considered to be a loyal party member. Since the death of Adesina, some factions are pushing for him.
SaharaReporters has learned that at a meeting with members of Hon. Akinwe’s constituency that he is not interested in becoming the number three man in the state. He is said to be backing one of the front runners in the contest.
“He told us in a meeting that he doesn’t want the speakership position, but rather backed any strong member that the party would want to pick,” said a source at the meeting.
For the Hon. Aladetan, a Prince in Ugbo kingdom, he was first elected into the House in 2007 on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP,) but later had abandoned the party and crossed the aisle over to the Labour Party in 2010.
Aladetan, Chairman of the House Committee on Information and Deputy Minority Leader, was given the ticket of Labour party to again run as its candidate during the 2011 general election. It was an election he won in a landslide, having spent seven years at the parliament house; many see him as a good choice for the post.
Political observers say that during the budget presentation by Governor Olusegun Mimiko to the House, both Aladetan and Akinwe were among the lawmakers who boycotted the proceedings. This might be difficult for either of them to now get the support of the governor to their side.
But another source said that the Governor might be pushing for the Deputy Speaker, Rt. Hon. Dare Emiola Francis, who is believed to be a loyalist to the Governor.
Our Government House source said that Emiola is being encouraged by the Governor to remain in the position of the acting Speaker, with the possibility of later becoming the speaker of the House.
These overtures could be seen during the bill of the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) sent to the house by Mimiko for passage into law.
The Deputy Speaker who also doubles as the Acting Speaker, Hon. Dare Emiola, was said to have mounted pressure on the Chairman of the Committee on Human Capital Development, Hon. Dairo Olatunji Oluwole. He is also the Chief Whip of the House, representing the Owo Constituency II area of the state to hurriedly look into the bill and to push it along for passage into law.
The Committee sat over the bill and within two weeks worked out its findings and recommendations with a removal of some clauses from the bill before tabling it at the hallow chamber. That is where the Deputy Speaker hurriedly passed the bill into law.
The Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) had sparked protest in the state, and anger with the House of Assembly, with workers from around the state accusing the lawmakers of compromising with the Governor in putting further hardship on the workforce with the introduction of the new scheme.
They had accused the twenty five lawmakers of hurriedly passing the bill into law, and then to subsequently go on recess to avoid attack on the House.
Governor Mimiko was said to have given Hon. Dare Emiola kudos for the job well done in hurriedly helping pass the bill into law.
Some believe that his continued loyalty to the Mimiko-led Labour Party Government might earn him the position.
But what might have caused a greater headache for Emiola is that he is from the Northern Senatorial district of the State, an area where the 'aged' Deputy Governor of the state, Ali Olanusi, also hails from.
As a result of this odd politicking, many lawmakers are now assured that Emiola might not become the speaker of the house, when the Deputy Governor is also from the North.
Though Emiola has not really shown an open interest in the position, sources tell SaharaReporters that there is much meaning to his body language when it comes to issues of leadership in the house. He walks with confidence, and a ‘bounce’ in his step.
However, with the House resuming their duties from the now passed recess, many of the lawmakers have not stopped the politics in holding several secret meetings at a hotel in the Alagabaka area of Akure. They are reportedly crafting a strategy on winning the minds of other House members to push for a candidate from the Southern Senatorial district.
It is also pertinent to note that none of the members of the House interested in the seat have yet to formally declare their ambition.
A former lawmaker in the House who does not want his name revealed, told SaharaReporters on Sunday at a Service that it’s “too early” to be talking about who succeeds Adesina. His remains were yet to be buried, and the former lawmaker stressed that if anyone has the ambition, it should be done secretly and not in the open.
“The fact still remains that the late Speaker has not been buried, and anyone contemplating on vying for the speakership position should do that in secret, not openly. When they bury the deceased, they can then start jostling for the seat. The main thing is that let the dead body leave the morgue” he said.
Looking at the creation of the state since 1976, and the formation of the Ondo State House of Assembly, also known as the 'Sunshine House of Hope,' no one among the current would-be candidates who emerges as Speaker of the House has completed a four year term in office.
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