Member representing Esan South East Constituency in the Edo State House of Assembly (EDHA), Sunny Ojiezeleon Monday, has defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC), saying his return to the party is a homecoming. 
 
Ojiezele, who is a former member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), officially joined the APC at the party’s State Secretariat in Benin City, Edo State. Ojiezele said he was a one-time member of the APC who defected to the PDP in 2019 alongside the former Governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki.  He cited irreconcilable differences in the PDP as a major reason he defected to the ruling party.
 
“I am indebted to the APC, and that is why I am here today to pay my debt by returning to the APC. 
 
“In the year 2019, I was in the APC, but joined the PDP when I had to, due to irreconcilable differences. 
 
“But today, with the issues rocking the PDP, I am back to the APC to pay my debt I owe the party since it was the platform that I got my mandate as a lawmaker in the House of Assembly,”  Ojiezele said.

MEANWHILE, the Edo Assembly, yesterday, passed the 2025 budget of N675 billion for assent. The passage followed the adoption of the House Committee on Budget and Project Monitoring’s report at plenary. Presenting the report, the Chairman of the committee, Sunday Fada (PDP Esan Central), said the budget was made up of N225 billion recurrent expenditure and N451 billion capital expenditure.
 
Fada noted that the committee came up with the increase in the budgetary allocation to enable the governor to carry out his five-point agenda in the state. The House Committee on Supply considered the budget clause by clause and, subsequently, approved the increase from N605.7 billion to N675 billion.
 
The Speaker, Blessing Agbebaku, thereafter directed Mr. Yahaya Omogbai, the Clerk of the House, to forward clean copies of the budget to the governor for his assent.