By Dayo Johnson, Akure

FROM all indications, the present Speaker of the Ondo State House of Assembly Rt. Hon. Jumoke Akindele who is the first female Speaker in the history of the state will remain in the position till next year October when the tenure of the governor Dr Olusegun Mimiko lapses.

The PDP will control 21 seats while the opposition APC will have five seats in the next House.

Her retention of the exalted position will only fail if she steps on banana peel which may make her colleagues revolt and kick her out.

But the relationship between her and other lawmakers seems cordial for now and if she could maintain this till October, she will definitely survive it.

Ms Jumoke Akindele: Outgoing Ondo Speaker

The zoning configuration also gives her some latitude. The state governor comes from Ondo Central and the Deputy Governor is from Ondo North, a development that has opened her Ondo South to the third ranking position in the state.

This zoning arrangement may change at the end of Mimiko’s tenure in October, 2016 as the PDP in the state is believed to be muting the idea of picking its next governorship candidate in 2016 from the South where the present Speaker comes from.

If this sails through, then the speaker may be zoned to the North while the position of the Deputy is zoned to the Central senatorial district.

Many political observers believe that for now, the PDP will not tinker with the zoning which distributes the three most important positions across the three senatorial districts areas of the state.

Rt. Hon. Akindele became the speaker after the former Deputy Speaker,  Hon Dare Emiola acted as the Speaker following the death of the former speaker Rt. Hon. Samuel Ajayi Adesina over a year ago.

Since Akindele became the speaker, the house which had been in limbo came alive again.

Vanguard learnt that the party is not thinking of altering the status quo as regards  the zoning of the position of the speaker.

An advantage for the incumbent speaker in the leadership contest in the next assembly is the fact that she would be the only ranking member from her Ondo South Senatorial District.

Those from the region who sought re-election failed.

Her major challenger for the office a year ago was Hon Oyebo Aladetan from Ilaje  constituency. Unfortunately for him, the zoning permutation in the oil rich Ilaje constituency knocked out Aladetan from re- contesting in the last Assembly election.

Aladetan who was the former Chairman House Committee on Information would have thrown his hat in the ring after the expiration of the tenure of governor Mimiko in October.

The Speaker, Jumoke Akindele represents Okitipupa Constituency II.  She  is a lawyer and had served as the Chairman of House Committee on Education before her election.

NUMBER OF LEGISLATORS

•PDP: 21
•APC: 5