Lasun emerges Reps’ Deputy Speaker

YUSUF Sulaiman Lasun from Osun State yesterday trounced Mohammed Tahir Monguno of Borno State to emerge Deputy Speaker of the Eight Assembly of the House of Representatives.

He polled 203 votes to beat Monguno who scored 153 of the total votes at the end of the exercise, which took place immediately after the emergence of Yakubu Dogara as the Seventh Speaker.

Two votes were voided by the Clerk of the National Assembly, Salisu Maikasuwa who presided over the election which lasted till 8 p.m.

Lasun was the deputy chairman of the House Committee on Water Resources in the seventh assembly in the House of Representatives, and represents Irepodun/Olorunda/Orolu/Osogbo Federal Constituency of Osun State in the eighth assembly under the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The chamber was, however, bereft of the boisterous atmosphere, which characterised the floor earlier in the day with members crisscrossing the alleyways to exchange banters and others engaging in horse trading to canvass votes for their favoured candidates.

Signs that Lasun would emerge the deputy presiding officer became obvious as members greeted his nomination with a thunderous ovation when the Clerk of the House, Sani Omolori called the lawmakers from Osun to proceed to cast their ballot.

The election of Lasun as the deputy speaker, The Guardian learnt is to balance the equation and to give room for federal character principle since he comes from South West. It was gathered that the competence of Lasun, an APC member from Osun State would go a long way in helping to stabilise the eighth assembly.

Ironically, Lasun who joined the race for the speakership two weeks ago later accepted to step down for Dogara and in view of this development was nominated by the “8th Assembly Consolidation Group” to be his deputy.

Born on October 4th, 1960, Lasun, a devout Muslim is said to command a lot of goodwill among members from the South West region. An alumnus of University of Ibadan, Lasun holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering.

A chartered engineer, the lawmaker was chairman of Osun State Capital Territory Development Authority and was first elected to the House of Representatives in 2011.

He attended Local Authority Primary School Ilobu from January 1970 to December 1972. He proceeded to Ansar-Ud-Deen Secondary School Erin Osun from January 1973 to June 1975. He attended Ifon/Erin Community High School Ifon-Osun from September 1975 to June 1979.