Ugochinyere Loses Bid for Minority Leader as Reps Restrict Principal Offices to Ranking Members

The lawmaker representing Ideato North/Ideato South Federal Constituency of Imo State, Ikeagwuonu Ugochinyere, has lost his bid to become Minority Leader of the House of Representatives following a resolution barring first-term lawmakers from occupying principal offices.

The House adopted the resolution during plenary on Wednesday after approving a motion sponsored by the member representing Ikorodu Federal Constituency of Lagos State, Babajimi Benson.

The resolution clarified Order 7, Rule 15 of the Standing Orders of the House of Representatives, which stipulates that only members with cognate legislative experience in the House are eligible for appointment as principal officers.

Order 7, Rule 15 states that only lawmakers with previous experience as members of the House of Representatives can occupy principal leadership positions in the Green Chamber.

The development comes amid efforts by some opposition lawmakers to nominate Ugochinyere as Minority Leader following the exit of Kingsley Chinda, who represented Obio/Akpor Federal Constituency of Rivers State and vacated the position after emerging as the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate for the 2027 election in Rivers State.

However, controversy trailed the nomination process last week when the Deputy Spokesman of the House, Philip Agbese, denied endorsing Ugochinyere for the position.

Agbese, a member of the Labour Party, alleged that his signature was forged on the document submitted in support of Ugochinyere’s nomination.

The claim was dismissed by Ugochinyere, who represents the Action Peoples Party (APP), describing the allegation as false.

In response, Ugochinyere later released a video which he said showed Agbese signing the document endorsing his candidature for the Minority Leader position.

With the House’s latest resolution restricting principal offices to ranking lawmakers, Ugochinyere is no longer eligible to contest for the Minority Leader position.