Sack of 5 lawmakers: A’Ibom Assembly splits as factional speaker emerges

The crisis in the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly worsened last night following the emergence of a factional speaker in the person of the member representing Essien Udim state constituency, Mr. Nse Ntuen.

The factional speaker is among the five lawmakers whose seats were declared vacant by the state house of assembly led by the speaker, Barrister Onofiok Luke.

The affected legislators it could be recalled has defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

They are Idongesit Ituen (Itu), Gabriel Tobby (Etim Ekpo/Ika), Victor Udofia (Ikono), Otobong Ndem (Mkpat Enin), and Nse Ntuen (Essien Udim).

The Speaker of the AKHA cited section 109 sub. 1G of the 1999 constitution as amended, as basis for declaring the seats of the five lawmakers vacant.

However, the action of the assembly was not without stiff resistance by the APC lawmakers as thugs suspected to be working for them invaded the premises of the assembly complex to stop the sitting of the House.

The hoodlums numbering over a hundred arrived the assembly complex situated at Udo Udoma road, Uyo in the early hours of yesterday and blocked the main entrance to the complex.

The thugs blocked the main entrance of assembly complex and also disrupted vehicular and human traffic in and out of the complex. They made bonfires and shot sporadically into the air.

But for the intervention of the security operatives, the thugs would have gained entrance to the Hallowed Chamber of the House. However, the hoodlums succeeded in smashing some doors and windows of the assembly complex.

The House also passed a motion urging Governor Udom Emmanuel to name either the Akwa Ibom state University or the Ibom International Airport after a former Governor of the state, Obong Victor Attah in commemoration of his 80th birthday today.

Speaking with journalists in Uyo last night, the factional speaker said that, their decision to change the Speaker followed members’ lack of confidence on the ability of Mr. Luke to lead the Assembly.

He described the process that led to their purported sack as illegal, null and void as there were subsisting court orders even as the House rules and procedures were not duly and legally followed.

“In the first place no such action as declaring our seat vacant took place because there was no mace, the former Speaker did not follow due legislative procedure of being announced into the chamber by the Sergeant at Arms rather he came in through the back door.

“What happened in the House today was a normal legislative thing. We were supposed to sit on Tuesday, but yesterday (Sunday) we got notices that the sitting had been rescheduled for today because of the public holiday on Tuesday and nobody objected to that.

Unfortunately this morning when I came to the house, the gate was barricaded and we were not allowed to go into the premises.

“Moreover, the purported action was not in the order paper for today’s plenary. The two items in the order paper were the consideration of the appropriation bill sent to the House by Governor Udom Emmanuel and a commemorative sitting for former Governor Victor Attah.

“So in the light of these anomalies, members sat and elected me as the new Speaker. We will reconvene on Wednesday when other positions will be filled.

“This will not be the first time a minority member will be elected a head of a legislature. The Senate President of the Nigerian Senate is a minority member.” He explained.

Ntuen wondered why Mr. Luke would unilaterally declare their seat vacant when that of a member who defected to the PDP from APC last year was not given the same treatment.

“So we elected a new Speaker because Luke is not good enough to be Speaker. He is incompetent and is been teleguided by the Executive against our quest to be independent and not to be labelled a rubber stamp Assembly.”

He called on the people of the state not to see their action as confrontational but that which would make the legislature stronger in the discharged of its responsibility to the people of Akwa Ibom state.