Politics

Edo Speaker’s Fate Hangs In The Balance As Group Pushes For His Removal

Published

3 months ago

March 19, 2025

The political landscape in Edo State is heating up as the tenure of the Speaker of the Edo State House of Assembly, Hon. Blessing Agbebaku, hangs in the balance.

A seismic shift is underway, fueled by fervent agitations from various concerned groups of the ruling APC, determined to unseat him from his position.

Leading the charge is the Edo North Conscience (ENC), a dynamic political and highly opinionated group that has unleashed a bold statement aimed at overturning the Speaker’s hold on power.

The Group fervently believes that his continued tenure clashes with both the moral and political values dear not only to the state, but members of the party in power, who went through endless turmoils and pains to install their candidate as governor.

At a recent high-stake stakeholders meeting in Auchi, Etsako West, members from across the Edo North district rallied together, unified in their opposition to Agbebaku’s continued retention as the Speaker of the Edo State House of Assembly.

With visible passion and pains in their voices, coupled with resolve in their hearts, the ENC has vowed to initiate the process that could ultimately lead to Agbebaku’s removal.

This rallying cry was captured in a communique signed by the group’s leader, Mr Oshioke Aledeh, and Secretary, Mr Tunde Balogun.

The communique also signalled a dramatic push for change in Edo politics.

In a dramatic twist of political fate, the ENC is leading the charge to unseat the Speaker, with the group also labelling him as a “political brute”.

According to the ENC, the embattled Speaker orchestrated the brutal campaign that left APC members reeling in pains and discomfort during the tumultuous state assembly elections that paved the way for his ascension to power.

The ENC also recounted the harrowing tales of assault suffered by some prominent APC leaders and members in the hands of the Speaker and his army of thugs, resulting in multiple injuries, the loss of properties and other valuables.

This, the Group added is in addition to the deafening war-mongering songs from the PDP across the entire Edo state prior to the September, 2024, elections, with erstwhile governor, Godwin Obaseki threatening to burn down the entire country if attempts are made to arrest notable and arrant political thugs traceable to the PDP.

They therefore questioned why Speaker Blessing Agbebaku should thrive where he has sown only discord. They equally added that the Speaker, even when pretending to be at home with incumbent Governor, Senator Monday Okpebholo still has his loyalty intact with his parent platform, the PDP.

Rt Hon Blessing Agbebaku ascended to the Speaker’s chair backed by the then-dominant PDP, but their power has dwindled in recent months with a wave of defections to the APC.

Now, the APC commands a significant majority in the House, boasting 13 seats to the PDP’s 11.

With the Speaker hailing from the party with the smallest block, a palpable hunger for change has emerged.

The ENC have therefore stepped into the fray and vowed to champion the cause for the Speaker’s removal, which it described as “untenable and inexplicable”.

Also, the ENC has declared that its clamour for the removal of the incumbent Speaker is not just about party politics, but a rallying cry that will reverberate through APC circles not only in Edo State but the country at large, by bringing this obviously abnormally to the ears of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

The Group equally vowed to reach out to influential APC stakeholders, including Gov Okpebholo, insisting it’s time for the APC to take its rightful place by having one of its own as the Speaker.

As the days unfold, all eyes will be on the beleaguered Speaker and his strategy to navigate the escalating demands for his ousting, even when the APC appears stoutly prepared for his removal having attained the majority status in the House.

In the midst of all these, will Blessing Agbebaku find a way to hold on to power, or his reign on the verge of collapse? Only time would tell.

But the obvious fact is that the Edo political atmosphere has become charged with Speaker Blessing Agbebaku still holding firm. Only his removal from the seat appears to be the only balm that would soothe members of the ruling APC, led by Governor Monday Okpebhol.

Related Topics:#Edo Assembly.Blessing Agbebaku Edo

Up Next

Lawmakers Clash At House Of Reps Over State Of Emergency In Rivers

Don't Miss

Edo Govt, PDP In Verbal War Over $10m Gulped By State-owned Newspaper Under Obaseki

Comments

Politics

Why I left Tinubu’s Govt — Former Aide Aliyu Audu Declares

Published

4 days ago

June 16, 2025

Editor

A former Senior Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Public Affairs, Aliyu Audu, has revealed that he resigned from the administration in order to actively campaign against Tinubu’s re-election bid in 2027.

Speaking on Monday during an interview on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily, Audu said his decision was driven by a matter of “principle and conscience,” as he accused the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) of attempting to turn Nigeria into a one-party state.

“It confirmed it on one hand, and on the other hand, it strengthened my resolve to not work for him in 2027,” Audu said, referring to Tinubu’s Democracy Day speech where the president claimed to enjoy seeing the opposition in disarray.

“I couldn’t in all honesty and in my conscience be in his government knowing I’m plotting against removal in 2027, because I will, and by God, we will remove him. Collectively, Nigerians will install a leader that will be our chosen, not his chosen. Not emilokan (my turn), but awa lokan (our turn), in fact, gbogbo wa lokan (all of us).”

He also criticised the inclusion of Nyesom Wike, a PDP member and current Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, in the APC-led government, questioning his loyalty and the legitimacy of such a move.

“What is Wike doing in our government? If he’s going to leave the PDP, he should leave. If we’re doing a government of national unity, you deal with the party, not individuals. The party is what we vote for — not Bola Tinubu but APC; not Atiku but PDP; not Peter Obi but Labour Party.”

Audu’s resignation letter, dated June 8, criticised the APC’s political trajectory and warned against what he described as a deliberate silencing of opposition voices. In a follow-up statement, he clarified that while he does not support the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), he would not lend himself “as an instrument to reduce Nigeria to a one-party state.”

“If we now begin to silence or crush opposition simply because we have the upper hand, then we are no different from the very system we once criticised under Obasanjo in 2003,” he said.

Politics

VIDEO: How Peter Obi Betrayed Me – Kenneth Okonkwo In New Interview

Published

6 days ago

June 14, 2025

Editor

Veteran actor and ex-spokesperson of the Labour Party Presidential Campaign Council, Kenneth Okonkwo, has accused former presidential candidate, Peter Obi, of betrayal in the wake of internal party disputes.

In a viral interview with Symfoni which started trending on Saturday, Okonkwo, who officially exited the Labour Party in February 2025, revealed that Obi went against his advice and returned to support the embattled Julius Abure-led faction of the party, despite alleged warnings.

According to him, Obi was misled by LP executives who claimed that the Independent National Electoral Commission had recognised them.

He said, “Any politician that knows what he’s doing cannot be betrayed by another. If there is anybody that betrayed the other, I can say it emphatically that Peter Obi betrayed me.

“The Julius Abure-led LP members lied to Obi that the Independent National Electoral Commission had accepted them and Obi surreptitiously went back to them but I told him: ‘Sir, you have made a public statement on integrity and even if INEC has accepted them, that is not a criterion for you to go back and start dealing with them because they have shown that they are not democratic. If you go back to them, they will destroy your political career and everything you have said about integrity will die.’”

He said that despite privately urging Obi not to align with a group he described as “undemocratic” and “agents of the government,” Okonkwo said Obi went ahead to publicly endorse them.

“I told Obi that these people had become agents in the hands of the government to destabilise him. What they did was absolutely illegal and unconstitutional, I told him that if he went back to them, I wouldn’t join him in doing so.

“Thereafter, I called all the people that were in the inner circle and told them the same thing about what Obi was trying to do. I told them he wanted to go back with the Abure people and if he did, I wouldn’t go back with him because I do not swallow back my words.

“And after saying all those things, within like 72 hours, Obi went back to Abure’s office to publicly endorse them and while he was there talking to them, one of the leaders in that executive sent me the video to mock me that the person I was fighting for against them has come to their office to endorse them.

“It was when INEC dissociated itself from Abure that Obi came out to start acting neutral but I told him he could not be neutral and something had to be done,” he added.

The Labour Party has been embroiled in a prolonged leadership crisis, with opposing factions laying claim to the party’s national structure.

The Abure-led faction has faced allegations of financial mismanagement and anti-democratic practices, which critics say contradict the party’s reformist image.

Okonkwo, a known loyalist of Obi’s political ideology, cited these irregularities as his reason for quitting the party earlier in the year.

Watch video below:

https://twitter.com/i/status/1933867577651925202https://twitter.com/i/status/1933867577651925202

Politics

Amaechi Slams Tinubu’s Policies In Fresh Outburst

Published

1 week ago

June 12, 2025

Editor

Former Minister of Transportation and two-time governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi, has asked the coalition opposition to kick President Bola Tinubu out of office if Nigeria is to escape its deepening economic crisis.

In a no-holds-barred interview with the BBC, Amaechi, a founding member and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, lamented the country’s deteriorating condition and signalled his willingness to help forge a new opposition coalition to rescue the nation.

“People are dying. People are starving. I myself am feeling the effects of hunger,” he said, painting a grim picture of life under the current administration.

Amaechi’s statement comes in the wake of the APC’s recent endorsement of Tinubu as its sole presidential candidate for 2027, a move Amaechi openly questioned.

While reiterating his loyalty to the party, he warned that fidelity to a political platform should never come at the cost of national conscience.

“If the government is failing the country, you don’t just go along because you’re in the same party. You know that’s not right,” he stated emphatically.

Though he stopped short of confirming a 2027 presidential bid, the former minister said the option remained on the table.

“Certainly, I believe I can make a meaningful contribution,” he added, hinting that his political journey may not yet be over.

He spoke of widespread poverty, spiralling food insecurity, and daily tragedies that now dot the national landscape.

Reflecting on his years as Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, Amaechi lamented that the number of out-of-school children then pegged at 10 million, had since ballooned.

The economic hardship, he said, had also deepened insecurity.

“The Boko Haram insurgency is not just a religious crisis. Many of those involved are driven by desperation and hunger,” he asserted, linking terrorism, banditry, and kidnapping to a broader socioeconomic collapse.

Amaechi’s declaration added momentum to an emerging political realignment.

Talks were already underway among key opposition figures, including Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party and Peter Obi of the Labour Party, as they explored the possibility of a unified front against Tinubu in 2027.

Even ex-Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State and once a key Tinubu ally had signalled interest in backing an opposition alliance.

But as opposition forces stir, the ruling party continues to absorb defectors, prompting fears of Nigeria drifting toward a one-party state, a scenario Amaechi warned could undermine democracy and silence dissent.

“We’re thinking that if we come together and win the election, the country will certainly witness change,” he said, suggesting an urgent need for a credible alternative.