Odds Favors Hon. John Gaul To Become Speaker, Cross River State House Of Assembly

Odds Favors Hon. John Gaul Lebo To Become Speaker, Cross River State House Of Assembly

 By Sunday Ido

Hon. John Gaul Lebo

Aside any last minute surprises, HonestNews has gathered that the incumbent member representing Abi State Constituency in the Cross River State House of Assembly, Hon. John Gaul Lebo, is the most favored to become the next Speaker of the Cross River State House of Assembly after Hon. Larry Odey's depature.

With the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP  winning all the seats in the just concluded Governorship and House of Assembly elections in the state, the party is set to produce the next Speaker of the House and with the zoning formula of the party, ensuring that the northern senatorial district Produced the governor-Elect in person of Senator Ben Ayade from Obudu LGA while his deputy, Prof. Ivara Esu is from Biase LGA in the Southern Senatorial District, so leaving the position of the Speaker for the Central Senatorial district, with the Abi LGA born law maker, John Gaul Lebo, been zeroed down by power brokers in the state for the job.

A close look at the composition of the house shows that about 19 members out of the present 25 in the House will not be returning. John Gaul is the only two time member and most senior member of the House that will be returning from the Central senatorial district  and it has become a common parliamentary practice that only ranking lawmakers graduate into principal offices of the legislature to ensure stability and continuity. It is in this vain that stakeholders have penciled Hon. John Gaul to continue to oversee the affairs of the House after the good work of Hon. Larry Odey led assembly.

 

But a party chieftain who spoke on the bases of anonimity  cautioned the governor-elect to be weary of the intention of those who want to handpick principal officers for the next House of Assembly.

Barrister John Gaul Lebo, hails from Ibalebo village, Adadama, Abi LGA. He is a graduate of Law, Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Nigeria since 1998, and has acquired 17 years post call experience.

He has attended Johannesburg Business School at Regenesy, he is a Fellow of the Institute of Strategic Management, Fellow Nigeria Institute of Corporate Administration, Fellow Chartered Institute of Management and a Chartered Arbitrator. He has been the Solicitor, Head of Chambers and Legal Consultant at Gaul-Gate Law from March 2005 – Present. In Feb. 2009 Barr. John Gaul Lebo, Isaiah Etuk, Dr Sunday Ikkake ikpe and Henry osim Pioneered an E- Law regime in Nigeria and in August - September 2009, The first Nigerian BAR Association Annual Law Conference transmitted online with conference centres and materials accessed online at Gaulonline.

He is currently completing his LLM Degree in International Economic Law. He was elected member Representing Abi State Constituency in the Cross River State House of Assembly in 2011. He was voted Best Performing House of Assembly Member in Cross River State for 2013 and 2014 by the PDP South South.

He is among the members with the highest number of private member bills, and the number of successful motions on the floor of the House.

In the current Assembly, he is one of the only three members who opened a constituency office, paid constituency allowance to each of the 10 council Wards of Abi. He also awarded scholarships to students of Abi origin in higher institutions and sponsored the training of over 100 students and Youths at the Central Bank Enterprise Development Center in Calabar. 

He is married to Binta Gaul and the union is blessed with 2 girls.