Politics

First Female Rep-elect Joins Speakership Race

Published

3 years ago

April 12, 2023

A member-elect of the House of Representatives, Miriam Onuoha, has joined the race for the Office of Speaker in the coming 10th National Assembly.

The current member of the House officially declared her speakership ambition at a press conference in Abuja on Tuesday.

Onuoha, who is representing Onuimo/Isiala Mbano/Okigwe Federal Constituency in Imo State on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress, is the first female to openly declare a bid for the office.

The lawmaker, who has been reelected for a second term in the House, is the second member from the South-East geopolitical zone to have joined the race, after Benjamin Kalu from Abia State who is Chairman of the House Committee on Media and Public Affairs.

At the conference, Onuoha was accompanied by two serving male members of the House, Messrs Abdulkadir Abdullahi (APC/Bauchi) and Emeka Chinedu (PDP/Imo) as well as several fresh members-elect and members of the APC Presidential Campaign Council.

In her address titled ‘The Unity House,’ Onuoha noted that the 10th Assembly “promises to be a watershed of some sort for Nigeria’s fledgling democracy.”

The lawmaker also stated that Nigeria needs “a nationalist and a dynamic team player to stem the tide of our dwindling economy and the much-needed dividends to Nigerians – a service-driven leader who understands citizens’ participation.”

Onuoha said, “The emergency of the dwindling number of women in parliament calls for deliberate action, an action that will bridge the gender gap; an action that is a call for the leadership of the National Assembly to embrace the stance for a woman of competence and experience.

“I honourably call for my fellow contestants to support me, a woman with competence, integrity and full of vision. No doubt, our President-elect, His Excellency, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is a he-for-she who has always empowered women in all spheres of life, having picked a woman as his running mate as the Governor of Lagos state and supported his amiable wife to become a senator in the parliament, in line with the goals of the UN’s 35 per cent Affirmative Action for women.

“To this effect, my election as the Speaker House of Representatives will, therefore, afford Nigeria the rare opportunity of killing the two ubiquitous birds of gender balancing and youth inclusiveness in its political/leadership landscape, with one stone.

“Truthfully, I Princess Miriam amply represent the twin-engine essence of Nigeria’s youth and female status quo, whom the circumstances of our political exigencies have made an endangered and vulnerable species.”

The lawmaker added that the issue of regional balancing in the nation’s leadership equation is also “another veritable national challenge that my election to the speakership of the House of Representatives will address and resolve simultaneously in the interest of national unity, peace and inclusion.”

Aspirants for the Office of the Speaker in the 10th Assembly, some of whom have yet to officially declare their ambitions, are now over 10.

They include the Deputy Speaker, Ahmed Wase; embattled Majority Leader, Alhassan Ado-Doguwa; Chairman of the House Committee on Navy, Yusuf Gagdi; Chairman, of House Committee on Appropriations, Aliyu Betara; Chairman, House Committee on Science Research Institutes, Olaide Akinremi; Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Benjamin Kalu; and Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Land Transport, Tajudeen Abbas; Chairman of the House Committee on Emergency and Disaster Preparedness, Abdulraheem Olawuyi; Chairman, House Committee on Water Resources, Sada Soli; Deputy Chairman of the House Committee on Defence, Makki Yalleman; and Sani Jaji.

Wase and Gagdi are from Plateau in the North-Central geopolitical zone; Ado-Doguwa, Kano, North-West; Betara, Borno, North-East; Akinremi, Oyo, South-West; Kalu, Abia, South-East; Yalleman, Jigawa, North-West; Jaji, Zamfara, North-West; Soli, Katsina, North-West; Olawuyi, Kwara, North-Central; Abbas, Kaduna, North-West; and Onuoha, Imo, South-East.

The President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, is from Lagos in the South-West, while the Vice President-elect, Kashim Shettima, is from Borno State in the North-East.

The APC is now left to consider National Assembly leadership positions for the remaining zones: North-West, North-Central, South-South and South-East.

Politics

Adebayo Adedamola Wins Osun PDP Governorship Primary

Published

17 hours ago

December 2, 2025

Editor

Adebayo Olugbenga Adedamola, popularly known as FRYO, has emerged as the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, candidate for the August 8, 2026 governorship election in Osun State.

The primary election took place in Osogbo on Tuesday amid heavy security presence.

Announcing the result, chairman of the primary election committee, Humphrey Abba, stated that Adebayo secured 919 votes out of 957 accredited ballots, giving him a clear victory in the contest.

Explaining that there were 20 void votes following the withdrawal of one of the candidates, believed to be Governor Ademola Adeleke, Abba added, “The candidate that got the remaining votes is Adebayo Adedamola with 919 votes and he stands elected and returned.”

DAILY POST reports that despite announcing his resignation from the party, Adeleke’s name appeared on the ballot paper for the PDP governorship primary.

Party officials said the exercise was conducted in accordance with established guidelines, with accredited delegates participating in the voting process.

Adeleke announced his resignation in a letter dated November 4, 2025, and addressed to the PDP leadership at his ward.

On Monday, Osun PDP chairman, Sunday Bisi, had announced that the governorship primary slated for Tuesday, December 2, 2025, has been postponed due to leadership crisis at the national level.

But a faction of the party went ahead with the exercise in Osogbo on Tuesday.

Politics

Gov Adeleke Resigns From PDP

Published

1 day ago

December 2, 2025

Editor

Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, has resigned from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ahead of the 2026 gubernatorial primaries of the party.

Adeleke’s resignation letter, dated November 4, 2025, sighted by Tribune Online was addressed to the PDP ward chairman for Ward 2, Sagba Abogunde, Ede, Osun State.

According to the letter, the governor’s resignation was based on “the current crisis of the national leadership of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).”

According to the letter, titled: “Resignation of my membership of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP)’ read, “Due to the current crisis of the national leadership of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), I hereby resign my Membership of the People’s Democratic Party with immediate effect.

“I thank the People’s Democratic Party for the opportunities given to me for my elections as a Senator (Represented Osun West) and as Governor of Osun State under the People’s Democratic Party.”

Politics

Tinubu Sends Ex-INEC Chair, Former Oyo First Lady, 30 Additional Ambassadorial Nominees To Senate

Published

4 days ago

November 29, 2025

Editor

President Bola Tinubu has forwarded 32 additional ambassadorial nominees to the Senate for confirmation, just days after submitting an initial batch of three names.

In two separate letters to Senate President Godswill Akpabio, the President urged the upper chamber to consider and swiftly confirm 15 career diplomats and 17 non-career nominees.

The list includes four women among the career nominees and six women among the non-career nominees.

Prominent names on the non-career list include Barrister Ogbonnaya Kalu from Abia State; former presidential aide, Reno Omokri (Delta); former chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmud Yakubu; former Ekiti First Lady, Erelu Angela Adebayo; and former Enugu State Governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi.

Others are former Speaker of the Katsina State House of Assembly, Tasiu Musa Maigari; former Plateau State Commissioner, Yakubu N. Gambo; and former Deputy Executive Secretary of UBEC, Yakubu K. Musa.

Also nominated are former Plateau senator, Prof. Nora Ladi Daduut; former Lagos Deputy Governor, Otunba Femi Pedro; former Aviation Minister, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode; and Barrister Nkechi Linda Ufochukwu from Anambra State.

Additional nominees include former Oyo First Lady, Fatima Florence Ajimobi; former Lagos Commissioner, Lola Akande; former Adamawa senator, Grace Bent; former Abia governor, Victor Okezie Ikpeazu; Senator Jimoh Ibrahim of Ondo State; and former envoy to the Holy See, Ambassador Paul Oga Adikwu (Benue).

The career ambassadorial nominees are Enebechi Monica Okwuchukwu (Abia), Yakubu Nyaku Danladi (Taraba), Miamuna Ibrahim Besto (Adamawa), Musa Musa Abubakar (Kebbi), Syndoph Paebi Endoni (Bayelsa), Chima Geoffrey Lioma David (Ebonyi), and Mopelola Adeola-Ibrahim (Ogun).

Others include Abimbola Samuel Reuben (Ondo), Yvonne Ehinosen Odumah (Edo), Hamza Mohammed Salau (Niger), Ambassador Shehu Barde (Katsina), Ambassador Ahmed Mohammed Monguno (Borno), Ambassador Muhammad Saidu Dahiru (Kaduna), Ambassador Olatunji Ahmed Sulu Gambari (Kwara), and Ambassador Wahab Adekola Akande (Osun).

The new nominees are expected to be deployed to countries with which Nigeria maintains strong and strategic diplomatic relations, including China, India, South Korea, Canada, Mexico, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, South Africa, and Kenya, as well as to Permanent Missions such as the United Nations, UNESCO, and the African Union.

Their specific postings will be determined after Senate confirmation.

Recall that President Tinubu, last week, forwarded three ambassadorial nominees, Ambassador Ayodele Oke (Oyo), Ambassador Amin Mohammed Dalhatu (Jigawa), and retired Colonel Lateef Kayode Are (Ogun), who are being considered for postings to the UK, USA, or France.

President Tinubu said additional ambassadorial nominations will be announced in due course.