By Daud Olatunji

On June 6, the new House of Assembly in Ogun State will be inaugurated and the new leadership would emerge.

Who will lead the 8th legislative house might be determined by some factors which include the choice of the governor,   Senator Ibikunle Amosun.

The present speaker, Mr. Suraj Adekumbi, is a Yewa man who was nominated by his party, the defunct,   Action   Congress of Nigeria, ACN.

Adekumbi was subsequently   elected by 17 members of the defunct ACN upon the consensus reached between the party leadership at that time and the governor. However, Khadijat Adeleye-Oladapo who was presented by the party leaders for the office of deputy speaker, lost to the governor’s nominee, Tola Banjo.

Suraj Adekumbi

But, this time around,   Amosun undoubtedly has almost total control of the All Progressives Congress, APC structure and is in pole position to determine who gets what in the legislature which is composed of 17 APC members and nine members of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

After its inauguration, next week, the  House   will produce its speaker from the rank of APC lawmakers and the choice,  according to the House rule must be a ranking lawmaker , but, can come from any of the parties.

The odd seems to be favouring the current Speaker of the assembly following the body language of the party leadership.

Political wisdom is that the speaker would come from Ogun West where Adekumbi comes from given the fact that the governor is from Ogun Central and his deputy is from Ogun East.

But it is not Adekunmbi’s choice for the picking as three APC   lawmakers   were re-elected from Ogun West, which consists of Yewa and the Awori. The possible threat to his aspiration for a second term from Ogun West could come from the chairman , House Committee on Finance and Appropriation, Mr. Olusola Akanbi and Mr. Aina Akinpelu representing Ado-Odo/Ota II and Ado-Odo/Ota I  constituencies respectively.

Findings have shown that, the APC with its majority members at the house can, however, only boast of Adekunbi in the Yewa region as the other four Yewa seats   were won by PDP candidates.

Though Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government gave Amosun the highest number of votes in the region-36,108, APC may not lead itself into crisis by fielding an Awori man as Speaker since the senator-elect for Ogun West senatorial district, Gbolahan Dada hails from the area.

This does not stop Akanbi and Akinpelu from contesting the speakership seat.

As the only APC lawmaker from Yewa, Adekunbi may have gotten the support of the party for the second term .

NUMBER OF LEGISLATORS

•APC: 17
•PDP: 9