Abia House of Assembly gets new Speaker, other

Abia House of Assembly gets new Speaker, other
principal officers
Rt. Hon. Asiforo Okere yesterday emerged the new
Speaker of Abia State House of Assembly. The
…erstwhile deputy speaker was elevated to the
coveted position following the resignation of the
former occupant, Rt. Hon. Ude Oko Chukwu, who
resigned on May 27 after being elected as the
deputy governor of the state.
The realignment of the House leadership after
Chukwu’s exit saw an upward movement of all the
principal officers of the House to the next higher
rank.
This saw the Leader of the House, Barrister
Chidiebere Nwoke, become the new Deputy
Speaker. The mantle fell on Nwoke who represents
Umuahia East Constituency when his second in
command, the Deputy Leader, Chief Princewill
Onyegbu (Bende South), declined nomination for the
position of Deputy Speaker, thus allowing Nwoke to
climb to the rank of deputy speaker without going
through the process of voting.
In a similar fashion, Onyegbu was promoted to the
position of Leader of the House while he would now
be assisted by the former Whip, Dr. Ikechukwu
Nwabeke (Osisioma North) who has become the
Deputy Leader. Nwabeke is replaced by his Deputy,
Chief Humphrey Azubuike (Ugwunagbo state
constituency) as the new Whip. Also, Hon Mba
Ukaha (Ohafia South) was made the new Deputy
Whip.
The new speaker and his deputy, in their separate
acceptance speeches, assured of their
preparedness to continue with the constitutional
duties of the House till June 8, 2015 when the
business session of the 5th House of Assembly
would come to an end.
While thanking his colleagues for his elevation,
Okere, who by the latest development is the
Seventh Speaker of the House, pledged that the
House would cooperate with the Executive and
Judiciary arms of government and appealed to
anyone who has issues of public interest to
approach the House, assuring that such matter
would be given urgent attention. The deputy speaker
equally expressed gratitude to his colleagues for his
elevation.