Osun gets new speaker

A former Osun State House of Assembly majority leader Timothy Owoeye has emerged the seventh speaker of the Osun state House of Assembly.

He was declared winner of the election which took place at the maiden plenary of the new assembly on Thursday in Osogbo, the state capital.

In October 2018, Owoeye, representing Ilesa east state constituency, was alleged of performing a ritual bath in the market square for success in his elections.

A video showing him being beaten by some men who purportedly caught him taking the ritual bath at night went viral.

However, it was gathered that Owoeye was lured for a ritual bath by a syndicate who recorded the video with the aim of extorting money from him.

The syndicate promised not to circulate the video if Owoeye complied with their demands for cash. He paid the initial cash to the alleged blackmailers, which subsequently opened a cascade of regular financial flows to their pockets.

His blackmailers – Olakunle Muhammed, 41, and Rasheed Bakare, 55 – were arrested and sued on three counts of charges of conspiracy, theft, and fraud.