{"id":850,"date":"2025-08-25T14:19:25","date_gmt":"2025-08-25T14:19:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=850"},"modified":"2025-08-25T14:19:26","modified_gmt":"2025-08-25T14:19:26","slug":"benue-assembly-speaker-resigns-lawmakers-pick-berger-as-replacement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=850","title":{"rendered":"Benue Assembly Speaker resigns, lawmakers pick Berger as replacement"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The Speaker of the Benue State House of Assembly, Aondona Dajoh, has resigned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dajoh\u2019s resignation was contained in a letter he personally signed, dated August 24, 2025, and made available to Channels Television.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Asake - Organise (Official Video)\" width=\"980\" height=\"551\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/_u4_iWCvZ5c?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The letter titled \u2018Resignation As The Speaker, Benue State House of Assembly, read in part, \u201cI write to resign my position as the Speaker, Benue State House of Assembly, effective today, August 24, 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThis is done in good faith and in the best interest of the state. I want to appreciate my dear colleagues for the opportunity they gave me to be the first among equals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI pledge to remain committed to my duties as a legislator and representative of Gboko West State Constituency.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Following his resignation, the Benue State assembly, in an emergency plenary session, elected Alfred Berger, representing Makurdi North, setting aside his suspension along with three other lawmakers on Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The session, which was presided over by the deputy speaker,&nbsp; Lami Ogenyi, first set aside its operating rules to allow them to carry on with the business of replacing the speaker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Berger, who is just returning from suspension and backed by Governor Hyacinth Alia, pledged to work with Dajoh and the lawmakers to pursue the development agenda of the state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Benue State House of Assembly had last Friday\u00a0suspended\u00a0the lawmaker representing Makurdi North, Alfred Berger; his Kian state constituency counterpart, Terna Shimawua; Cyril Ekong of Obi state constituency, and James Umoru, representing Apa state constituency, for six months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This, according to the House, followed an attempt to impeach the Speaker, Aondona Dajoh, the previous night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Majority Leader, Saater Tiseer, in a motion of urgent importance, moved for the suspension of the four lawmakers for attempting to unsettle the state assembly with what he said was a needless crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br>Following the motion, the Speaker directed the Sergeant at Arms to lead the suspended lawmakers out of the chambers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dajoh also appointed Audu Elias as the new spokesperson of the House, following the suspension of Berger, who had held the position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, the Benue State Governor, Hyacinth Alia, said he had&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.channelstv.com\/2025\/08\/22\/i-have-no-hand-in-plot-to-remove-benue-speaker-says-governor-alia\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">no hand<\/a>&nbsp;in any alleged move to impeach Dajoh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A statement by the Chief Press Secretary (CPS) to the Governor, Tersoo Kula, partly read,&nbsp;\u201cThe governor, Hyacinth Alia, is not aware of and has no involvement whatsoever in any purported attempt to remove the speaker or in any activities currently taking place in the Benue state house of assembly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe governor continues to enjoy a cordial and productive working relationship with the Dajoh-led assembly and remains committed to supporting it in the discharge of its legislative duties for the overall development of Benue state.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Twenty-four hours earlier, the House of Assembly screened and confirmed six nominees as commissioners, but rejected the nomination of Timothy Ornguga over allegations contained in four petitions against him from his former students and for lacking a primary school certificate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The lawmakers at plenary presided over by Dajoh, asked Governor Alia to send replacements for Ornguga and James Dwen as both men failed to discharge the burden contained in the petition submitted against their nominations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After Ornguga, a law professor, introduced himself, the Majority Leader, Saater Tiseer, presented four petitions written against him, while the lawmaker representing Tarka Constituency, Manger Manger, queried his academic credentials.  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.channelstv.com\/2025\/08\/24\/just-in-benue-assembly-speaker-resigns\/\">(Channels)<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Speaker of the Benue State House of Assembly, Aondona Dajoh, has resigned. Dajoh\u2019s resignation was contained in a letter he personally signed, dated August 24, 2025, and made available to Channels Television. The letter titled \u2018Resignation As The Speaker, Benue State House of Assembly, read in part, \u201cI write to resign my position as [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":851,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[1071,1069,1068,781,675,1073,1070,1072],"class_list":["post-850","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national","tag-alfred-berger","tag-aondona-dajoh","tag-benue-state-house-of-assembly","tag-commissioners","tag-hyacinth-alia","tag-james-dwen","tag-resignation","tag-timothy-ornguga"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Benue Assembly Speaker resigns, lawmakers pick Berger as replacement - Tona Today<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Speaker of the Benue State House of Assembly, Aondona Dajoh, has resigned. 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