Abadula Gemeda

Abadula Gemeda is the Speaker of the House of Peoples' Representatives, the lower chamber of the Ethiopian Parliament, since 2010. Previously, from 2006 to 2010, he was President of the Oromia Region.^[1] He was succeeded in that position by Alemayehu Atomsa.

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 has also obtained his Master's Degree from Greenwich University, UK, in 2009. ^[2]

With the change in government in 1991, Abadula became the chief of operations of the National Defense Force. After five years of service, in 1996, he becomes the chief of intelligence. His movement took him to the next post in 1998 as he was made the commander of the ground force of the National Defense Force. His military profile has reached to the post of Major General.Reaching at the height of it, he became the minister of National Defense in 2000. Moving to a civilian profile, Abadula become the president of the Oromia Region in 2005.

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

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