Abadula Gemeda

Abadula Gemeda አባዱላ ገመዳ
Speaker of the House of People's Representatives
Incumbent
Assumed office 10 September 2010
Preceded by	Teshome Toga Chanaka
President of the Oromia Region
In office 6 October 2005 – 5 September 2010
Preceded by	Junedin Sado
Succeeded by	Alemayehu Atomsa
Personal details
Born	5 July 1958 Arsi, Ethiopia
Political party	Oromo People's Democratic Organization

Abadula Gemeda (Ge'ez: አባዱላ ገመዳ; born 5 July 1958) is the Speaker of the House of Peoples' Representatives, the lower chamber of the Ethiopian Parliament, since 2010. Previously, from 2005 to 2010, he was President of the Oromia Region.^[1] He was succeeded in that position by Alemayehu Atomsa.

Life

Adadula Gemeda was born in Arsi Zone, Oromia Region, on 5 July 1958. Abadula has a mix of military and civilian education. His military education was obtained from the Defense University of China in Military Leadership in 1995. His civilian education was focused on public administration. His Bachelor and Master's of Arts degrees from the US were both obtained from Century University in 2001 and 2004, respectively. Abadula also obtained his master's degree from Greenwich University, UK, in 2009.^[2]

Political career

With the change in government in 1991, Abadula became the chief of operations of the National Defense Force. After five years of service, he became the chief of intelligence in 1996. He was appointed as commander of the ground force of the National Defense Force in 1998. He reached the rank of Major General. In 2000 he was appointed as Minister of National Defense. Moving to a civilian profile, Abadula became President of the Oromia Region in 2005.

Abadula is considered one of the few influential politicians within the OPDO.

References

1. "OPDO Replaces Aba Dula Gemeda by Alemayehu Atomsa". Addis Neger. Retrieved 20 August 2013.
2. "Ethiopia: Abadula Gemeda, Speaker of the Parliament". All Africa Report. Retrieved 30 September 2013.