The newly elected Speaker of the Edo State House of Assembly, Yekini Idiaye, has alleged that his predecessor, Blessing Agbebaku, was forced out of office because of poor leadership and alleged corruption.
Idiaye, who represents Akoko-Edo Constituency I and is serving his third term in the Assembly, emerged as Speaker on Monday after Agbebaku resigned amid reported moves by lawmakers to remove him.
Speaking to journalists after the Assembly’s plenary, Idiaye accused the former Speaker of running the House poorly and alleged that legislative activities were frequently disrupted by lengthy adjournments.
“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,” he said.
Idiaye said the lawmakers decided to change the leadership because they believed it was necessary to support the administration of Governor Monday Okpebholo.
“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 election was also linked to the Assembly’s zoning arrangement, under which the Speaker’s position is allocated to Edo North when the governor comes from Edo Central.
As the oldest serving lawmaker from Edo North, Idiaye was subsequently elected to lead the Assembly.
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Members of the House reportedly visited the Edo State Government House to inform Governor Okpebholo of the change in leadership.
Agbebaku reportedly resigned earlier on Monday as pressure mounted over an alleged impeachment move. Seventeen of the 24 lawmakers were said to have signed a notice seeking his removal on Sunday night.
His media aide, Ivy Ebojele, confirmed the resignation.
“I can confirm the Speaker’s resignation but details will be made public later,” she said.
Efforts to obtain further comments from Agbebaku were unsuccessful, as his phone line was busy, while Ebojele had yet to release additional information on the circumstances surrounding his resignation.