The member representing Ogbaru II Constituency in the Anambra State House of Assembly, Somtochukwu Udeze, has emerged as the Speaker of the state assembly.
Udeze emerged as the Speaker on Monday, after he was unanimously elected by the 30 members of the eighth Assembly at the State House of Assembly Complex in Awka, the Anambra State capital.
He is a third-term member of the Assembly, who first became a member of the house on the platform of the All Progressives Grand Alliance in 2015, but later decamped to the Peoples Democratic Party, under which he won re-election to the house in 2019.
He also won the March 2023 House of Assembly elections under the PDP, which made him become a three-term member, but thereafter decamped back to APGA, a few days before the inauguration of the state Assembly.
He said: “Contrary to the notion in some quarters that the Assembly is established to be at loggerhead with the executive arm of government, this 8th Assembly would foster good relationship with the executive and the judiciary arms of government based on mutual respect for each other and for the growth of Anambra state.
“Granted that the 8th Assembly has four political parties represented here but irrespective of party affiliation and loyalty, we must face the task put before us by the Anambra electorate and not party loyalty”
“I will neither fail nor disappoint you my colleagues and the people of Anambra State.
Addressing the lawmakers, Governor Chukwuma Soludo urged them to see their task as one that has the same goal as that of the state executive in building a liveable and prosperous Homeland.
“This is a new partnership and new arrangement and one common goal for the 8th Assembly and we do not have 30 balls or 30 goal posts but one ball and one goal post.
“Yes we have four political parties in this 8th Assembly, but we don’t have four goalposts or four balls. We have applied for governor and Assembly membership and we have been employed by our people to serve.
“We do not have four political parties in this Assembly but only one party and that is Anambra people and that is Anambra Assembly,” the governor told them.
