Incoming 10th House: Ibeh, Ogbunikpa  To Battle For Next Speaker Position

.Amara Sure of Deputy Speaker, Onyenaechi Retain Majority

The outcome of the March 18, 2023 House of Assembly elections has opened fresh permutations concerning the identities of the would-be principal officers when the new House will be inaugurated in June this year.

At the end of the conduct, APC candidates grabbed all the available positions without the opposition party succeeding in any victory.

Trumpeta can state that based on the method of sharing political positions among the three zones, Okigwe zone will definitely produce the next Speaker of the House. Similar to what is obtained in the present dispensation where Governor Hope Uzodinma is from Orlu zone and his Deputy, Prof Placid Njoku from Owerri zone, Okigwe zone has been producing the Speaker which has been tasted by four Lawmakers from the zone.

Based on the ranking policy obtainable in the Imo Assembly Statue, two returning lawmakers; Rt Hon Kennedy Ibeh and Chidiebere Ogbunikpa of Obowo and Okigwe respectively.

Ibeh had been Speaker after Paul Emeziem was removed. But a year after becoming number one lawmaker in Imo Assembly, he was pushed away for the incumbent, Rt Hon Emeka Nduka. The Obowo lawmaker will likely struggle the plum position with the Okigwe State Constituency member, Ogbunikpa.

Ogbunikpa was unable to taste the office of the Speaker in the outgoing dispensation, but this new development may see him become the new helmsmen in Imo Assembly.

Having succeded in getting a second missionary journey to IMHA, Rt Hon Amara Iwunayanwu will retain his Deputy Speakership position. The other returning lawmakers who would have posed a threat to him are either from the constituency of Uzodinma or that of the Senator elect, Senator Osita Izunaso, thereby knocking them out from contest.

For the position of Majority Leader, the incumbent, Hon Dele Onyemaechi may not also have obstacle, as he is the only returning ranking House member from Owerri zone.

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