Ihonvbere emerges House of Reps Majority Leader, Chinda Minority Leader
By Emma Ogbuehi
Other principal officers in the 10th House of Representatives emerged on Tuesday. The Speaker of the House, Hon. Tajudeen Abbas has unveiled the principal officers., announcing Prof Julius Ihonvbere representing Owan federal constituency of Edo State as the majority leader while Hon. Kingsley Chinda representing Ohio/Akpor federal constituency of Rivers State was announced the minority leader.
Other principal officers from the Majority Caucus as announced included Hon. Abdullahi Ibrahim Halims (Kogi, APC)- Deputy majority leader; Hon. Usman Bello Kumo (Gombe, APC)- Chief Whip and Hon. Adewumi Onanuga (Ogun, APC) -Deputy Majority Whip.
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Similarly, for the minority leader, Hon. Ali Isa JC (Gombe, PDP)- Minority Whip; Hon. Ali Madaki (Kano, NNPP) -Deputy minority leader and Hon. George Ozodinobi (Anambra, LP)-Deputy minority Whip.
Ihonvbere was the Chairman House of Representatives Committee on Basic Education in the ninth Assembly.
He was the former Special Adviser on Project Monitoring and Implementation to ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo and was two-time PDP governorship aspirant in Edo State.
He obtained his MA in international affairs and Ph.D. in political science from Carleton University, Ottawa and the University of Toronto respectively. He then proceeded to teach at the University of Ife, Ogun State University and University of Port Harcourt all in Nigeria. He was forced into self-exile in 1990, and returned to the University of Toronto as visiting professor of African politics. In 1991, he moved to the University of Texas at Austin, where he taught African and third-world politics as well as courses on US–Africa relations. In 1997, he joined the Ford Foundation in New York as program officer in the Peace and Social Justice Program and was responsible for the portfolio on “Pluralism and Governance” until 2002, when he voluntarily withdrew his services to return to Nigeria.
Selection of the officers in the House of Representatives followed same seamless process as in the Senate.
