Blessing Agbebaku and Maria Edeko on Monday retained their positions as the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker of the Edo State of Assembly after a minor leadership shuffle.

Ekwutosblog reports that the duo who are members of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, retained their positions following the implementation of a letter sent to the House by the state leadership of the All Progressives Congress, APC.

Agbebaku who read the letter addressed to him by the acting state chairman of APC, Jarret Tenebe, however, announced a minor change in the principal officers of the House.

Charity Aiguobarueghian, PDP, Ovia North-East I, Natasha Osawaru Irobosa, PDP, Egor, and Yekini Idaiye, PDP, Akoko-Edo I, were removed as the Majority Leader, Deputy Leader and Chief Whip of the House, respectively.

Natasha Osawuru is the lover of singer Tuface.

The trio were replaced with Ibhamawu Jonathan Aigbokhan, APC, Esan West as Majority Leader, Addeh Emakhu Isibor, APC, Esan North-East I, and Lecky Hussein Mustapha, APC, Etsako West I as Deputy Leader and Chief Whip of the House, respectively.

The position of the Deputy Chief Whip earlier given to Richard Edosa, Oredo West constituency, was eventually cancelled as there was no such position in the legislature.

The letter dated April 7, 2025, titled ‘Nomination of Principal Officers of the Edo State House of Assembly’, was signed by Tenebe, state acting chairman of APC and Lawrence Okah, the secretary.

Parts of the letter read: “We write to refer you to our earlier correspondence dated 14th March, 2025 to your office notifying you of the majority status of our party, the All Progressives Congress, APC, in the Edo State House of Assembly.

“Consequently, we hereby forward to you the party’s nomination of principal officers’ position in the House.

“Majority Leader, Hon Ibhamawu Jonathan Aigbokhan, Esan West constituency, Deputy Majority Leader, Hon Emakhu Addeh Isibor, Esan North-East I, and Chief Whip, Hon Lecky Hussein Mustapha, Etsako West constituency.”

The majority leader and deputy majority leader are from Edo Central Senatorial District while the Chief Whip, Lecky Hussein Mustapha, is from Edo North Senatorial District.

Recall that Richard Edosa was the only lawmaker elected on the platform of the Labour Party but he recently defected to the APC.

The Speaker, Agbebaku disclosed that the PDP would also bring its list of nominees of principal officers to the House.

He noted that his position as the Speaker and that of the Deputy Speaker were not guaranteed in the ongoing leadership change in the House.

The National Chairman of the Labour Party, Julius Abure on Monday warned there is no vacuum in the party’s leadership.

Abure issued the warning ahead of the party’s National Executive Committee, NEC, meeting called by LP’s former presidential candidate, Peter Obi and Governor Alex Otti of Abia State.

Speaking at a public conference at the party secretariat, Abure described Obi and Otti as betrayals.

He noted that the Supreme Court was clear in its judgment, stressing that LP matters are internal affairs of political platforms.

According to Abure: “Tell them that there is no vacancy in our party. In the Labour Party, we don’t betray our candidates even though some betray us after giving them tickets.

“We also want to urge those who have been deceived by last week’s misleading interpretation of the Supreme Court judgment to disregard the speculation. I remain the National Chairman of the Labour Party.

“Again, the Labour Party Constitution does not recognise the setting up of a caretaker committee for party affairs.”

Ekwutosblog had reported that Obi and Otti had called for a NEC meeting scheduled to hold on Wednesday in Abuja.

The duo said the meeting would be followed by a town hall engagement with major stakeholders at the Transcorp Hilton in Abuja.

A Federal High Court in Abuja has scheduled hearing for May 28 in a motion filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), seeking an order for final forfeiture of N228.4million linked to former Governor of Abia, Theodore Orji.

Justice Emeka Nwite chose the date on Monday after EFCC’s lawyer, Fadila Yusuf informed the court that her client has complied with an earlier order for publication.

Yusuf said: “I wish to state that we have complied by publishing the report on the commission’s website and in a newspaper, as directed by the court.

She then applied for a date to move the motion on notice for final forfeiture.

Justice Nwite granted her request and and adjourned till May 28 for the hearing of the motion.

In a supporting affidavit, the EFCC claimed that the money is a subject of investigation by its operatives, which was found in the possession of a firm, Effdee Nigeria Ltd.

It said the money was suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activities.

The EFCC added: “Effdee Nigeria Ltd is alleged to have conspired with others to defraud Abia State Government to wit: conspiracy, abuse of office, obtaining money by false pretence, money laundering and diversion of public funds.

“Effdee Nigeria Ltd, in whose possession the monies were found, is reasonably suspected to have conspired with Senator Theodore Ahamefule Orji, the former Governor of Abia State, some officials in the former governor’s administration and his family members.”

It stated that the ex-governor and others are being investigated for the allegations following intelligence report received by the commission against Orji.

According to the EFCC, there is the need to preserve the money pending investigation and/or prosecution.