New Speaker Emerges in Oyo State

                             
With the mourning period over for the late Speaker of the Oyo State House of Assembly, Michael Adeyemo, the lawmakers Tuesday elected a new speaker.

He is Mr. Gunju Ojo, an erstwhile Labour Party lawmaker who joined the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) a few months ago.


The 67-year-old lawmaker hails from Oriire state constituency in Ogbomoso area of the state. He was Deputy Speaker during the Lam Adesina’s administration between 1999 and 2003.

In a twist of fate characterised by intrigue and high level political manoeuvring, the new speaker was until his new position the Minority Leader of the house.

The former Speaker, Adeyemo, died on April 27, 2018 and has since been buried in Lanlate, Ibarapa East.

Meanwhile, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has slated a by-election to fill the vacant seat of Ibarapa East State Constituency in the Oyo State House of Assembly for Saturday, June 2.

INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for Oyo State, Mutiu Agboke, disclosed this in Ibadan on Tuesday, during a press briefing at the state headquarters of the commission.

The seat became vacant following the death of the immediate past speaker of the House.

The REC, who is a lawyer, said political parties interested in fielding candidates for the election must conduct their primaries between Wednesday and Saturday 19, May, just as he assured voters in the area of conducting credible election.

Agboke, who remarked that the election would be conducted in 140 polling units of the constituency, said political parties, security agencies and other stakeholders had been invited to discuss the timetable and activities that would lead to the election.

He said machinery were set in motion to fulfill extant laws as soon as the House of Assembly informed the commission formally of the death of Speaker Adeyemo and the consequent vacancy of his position as a lawmaker.

He disclosed that the permanent voter cards (PVCs) for those who freshly registered in the 2017 continuous voter registration had been produced and were ready for collection from Monday next week.

The REC, however, said the PVCs for those who registered in 2018 had not been produced, explaining that they would be ready for use in the 2019 elections.

“The total number of new registrants under CVR is 290, 960 comprising 149, 554 males and 141, 406 females,” he said.

He added that 630,853 PVCs were yet to be collected in the state, disclosing that the commission had embarked on a series of advocacy campaign and engagement with stakeholders to ensure the owners of the cards claim them.