The race for the position of the next Speaker of Ondo State House of Assembly is already gathering steam amongst the re-elected members in the Sunshine State parliament.
A very few of the members may have shown interest in the speakership seat; however, the position has interestingly and naturally become indisputably cut out for the very best man.
The position of Ondo Assembly Speaker has geographically and
naturally become zoned to Ondo Central Senatorial District. This is of course due to the fact that the Governor is from Ondo North Senatorial District while the Deputy Governor also comes from Ondo South Senatorial District.
Other very important factors to consider in the choice of House of Assembly Speaker include ranking status, hierarchy in the Assembly, competence, integrity, leadership qualities and ability to seamlessly command respect amongst members of the House.
Meanwhile, one leading and highly respected personality that naturally fits into all the qualities expected of the next Speaker of Ondo State House of Assembly is none other than Hon. Olamide Adesanmi Oladiji, who is popularly known as Landmark.
The Ondo born Landmark is the member representing Ondo East State Constituency in the Ondo State House of Assembly. He initially got elected into the State Assembly in year 2019 and was again re-elected in the March 2023 elections. The fact of his re-election has naturally earned Landmark the status of a Ranking member of the House and he is also the only member from Ondo Central Senatorial District who is in the top echelon of the State Assembly hierarchy.
Hon. Oladiji served as the Majority Leader of the 9th Ondo Assembly for a while before he was later made the Deputy Majority Leader for the obvious reason of political exigencies. Going by his hierarchical standing of the Ondo State House of Assembly, Landmark was once the number three (3) man in the Assembly and he still stands tall now as the number four (4) man. This hierarchy is obviously the highest that any Assembly member from Ondo Central Senatorial District is occupying at the moment in the state parliament.
In line with the factors of fairness, equity and political balancing that conventionally influence the zoning of leadership positions in Nigeria and Ondo State in particular; the right and the best person to naturally become the next Speaker of the Sunshine State is Hon. Olamide Adesanmi Oladiji a.k.a Landmark.
Meanwhile, it is also expected that whoever wants to become the speaker of any State Assembly in Nigeria must have a good relationship with the sitting governor of such state. This is obviously another factor that also favours Landmark to emerge as the next Speaker of the Ondo State House Assembly. It is an open secret that Hon. Oladiji has a warmly robust relationship with Governor Rotimi Akeredolu as well as his Deputy, Lucky Orimisan Ayedatiwa.
Therefore, all the political indices that may ever be considered in the choice of the next Speaker of the 10th Ondo Assembly are apparently in favour of Landmark. The Deputy Majority Leader of the House also possesses the needed requisite legislative experience to effectively preside over the Sunshine State Assembly.
As the Chairman, House Committee on Works and Infrastructure, he has proven his mettle in the discharge of his responsibilities in this capacity. Impacts of the effective discharge of the oversight duties of Hon. Olamide Oladiji in this capacity can be glaringly felt through the obviously rapid transformation so far witnessed in infrastructural development across the Sunshine State.
He is the also the Vice Chairman of the State House Committee on Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs. He is also a member of the House Committees on Finance and Appropriations, Public Accounting, OSOPADEC and Natural Resources.
Interestingly, Landmark has likewise competently served as the
Chairman of the House Committee on Government House Protocols and this responsibility has further strengthened his robust relationship with Governor Rotimi Akeredolu.
Olamide had equally served as the House Committee Chairman on Judiciary and had likewise served as the Vice Chairman Committee on Local Government and Chieftaincy and as the Vice Chairman House Committee on Water Resources. He had also served in the Assembly as a member of House Committee on Finance and Appropriations.
In addition, Hon. Olamide Oladiji evidently possesses the requisite education and leadership skill to
provide the needed legislative leadership for Ondo State House of Assembly. He is equally known to be vastly skilled in public speaking, policy development and strategic planning. He is likewise a team player who is extremely gifted and skilled in team building.
The extremely humble, empathetic and calculative Hon. Oladiji is robustly educated. He is a holder of Post Graduate Diploma from the Olabisi Onabanjo University in Ogun State. He had earlier bagged a Higher National Diploma in Accountancy from the Federal Polytechnic Ado-Ekiti in 1998. Landmark had also studied and bagged Ordinary National Diploma in Accountancy from the Federal Polytechnic Unwana Afikpo in Eboyin State.
The 56 year old legislator also had his secondary education at the prestigious Saints Joseph’s College in Ondo town from 1980 to 1986. He also passed in flying colours his West African Examination Council Certificate in same secondary school. Hon. Olamide Oladiji began elementary education and obtained his First Leaving School Certificate at Saint Paul’s Roman Catholic Mission Primary School in Ondo town from 1974 to 1980.
The philanthropist is known to have attained huge success in business before he decided to venture into partisan politics. He is the founder of Landmark Polytechnic that is located at Ayetoro/Itele in Ogun State. He is also the founder of Landmark Group of Schools located at Ikotun and Agodo Egbe in Lagos State and Ayetoro Itele
in Ogun State. He is also the founder of Ladiji Petroleum that is located at Idimu area of Lagos State.
Landmark has won several educational, business and philanthropical awards. However, the very honour cherishes most was the Award of the Best Legislator of The Year 2020 that was presented to him by the Nigerian Union of Journalists, Ondo State Chapter.
Hon. Olamide Adesanmi Oladiji has undoubtedly paid his dues in Ondo State politics and he also evidently has the support of nearly all his colleagues in the parliament to become the Speaker of the 10th Ondo State House of Assembly.
More importantly, all the political considerable factors, zoning and evidence of competency are all highly in favour of Landmark. As expected, the Ondo born legislator should seamlessly become the next Speaker of Ondo Assembly if the factors of fairness, political balancing, political equity and ranking status would be consciously brought to bear.
