Speaker Onofiok Luke at plenary when
the seats of the five lawmakers were declared vacant
By Iniabasi Umo, Uyo
The ongoing crisis in the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly is
an offshoot of the fight for supremacy between the ruling Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) and the main opposition in the state, the
All Progressives Congresses (APC). The latter is seeking to take
over government in the state come 2019.
Before now, opposition lawmakers were non-existent in the state,
and even when there was any, they made little or no impact in the
House. Any disagreement among members was resolved amicably, and in
the case of any proposed impeachment, the affected lawmaker
resigned or stepped down honourably.
In fact, at the inception of this Assembly, there were no
opposition lawmakers until the defection of Senator Godswill
Akapbio to the APC. This defection not only fuelled the desire of
the APC to take over the reins of government at all cost, but the
party, which could be described as a lame duck in the state,
suddenly came alive and many aggrieved PDP members or loyal
followers of Akpabio defected.
Five lawmakers: Mr. Idongesit Ituen, representing Itu; Mr
Gabriel Toby (Etim Ekpo/Ika); Mr. Victor Udofia (Ikono/Ini); Mr.
Otobong Ndem (Mkpat Enin) and Mr. Nse Ntuen (Essien Udim) defected
to the APC and their seats were declared vacant by the Speaker of
the House, Mr. Onofiok Luke.
While Nse Ntuen, who hails from the same local council as
Akpabio, and Gabriel Toby defected to the APC the same day with the
former governor, Victor Udofia and Otobong Ndem moved to the party
when they failed to secure tickets in the PDP primaries for the
House of Representatives and Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly
seats respectively. Unfortunately for them, the APC could not give
them the tickets they desired as the slots were already taken.
Idongesit Ituen defected to the APC in September 2018 when he
discovered that he would not clinch the PDP ticket in Itu to return
to the House of Assembly. As a result of the fear that he would
lose his seat, he quickly went to court to secure an injunction.
But his action backfired as the court mandated Speaker Luke, on
Thursday, November 15, to withdraw his membership. Subsequently,
the speaker obeyed the court order, stating, “Being a declarative
judgement, the Honourable Speaker wishes, therefore, to state
clearly that as a law abiding citizen, a lawmaker and lawyer, he
has abided by the court order.’’
When Ituen learnt that the House would declare his seat vacant
on November 19, 2018, he reportedly organised youths who promptly
barricaded the Assembly complex to prevent the lawmakers from
sitting. The protesters, numbering over 200 youths, who were
alleged to be from the APC, blocked the entrance to the Assembly
complex, chanting songs and displaying placards against the
decision of the Speaker to withdraw recognition of Ituen as the
lawmaker representing Itu.
When the Speaker arrived the gate to the Assembly complex, he
was almost lynched, but for the intervention of the police, led by
the Commissioner of Police John Abang. The commissioner, therefore,
prevented an outbreak of violence and promised to secure the lives
and property of lawmakers and the Assembly. But Abang, who was
barely a month in office, has been replaced on the allegation that
he aided the PDP during the crisis.
Amidst tight security, and the teargas meant to dispel some of
the youths who had gained entrance into the Assembly and succeeded
in destroying some windows close to the chambers, Speaker Luke and
other lawmakers sat and declared the seats of the five lawmakers
vacant.
The PDP had, in a statement, alleged that the APC had concluded
plans to use thugs to invade the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly
and prevent lawmakers from carrying out their legitimate
business.
The statement read: “We received a credible intelligence report
highlighting plans by the opposition APC to use thugs to invade the
Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly. The thugs, we have been reliably
informed, are camped in Ikot Ekpene and will be conveyed in buses
to Uyo. On arrival at Uyo, they will be dropped at different
locations, from where they are expected to board tricycles in pairs
and head towards the Assembly.
“Another set of thugs are expected to accompany the ousted
lawmaker, Mr. Idongesit Ituen, to attempt to force his way into the
Assembly. The motive of this invasion is to prevent the Speaker
from declaring vacant, the seat of the sacked legislator.’’
The sacked legislators, however, cried foul over the decision of
their colleagues, and broke into the chambers after they departed.
Three of them – Nse Ntuen, Idongesit Ituen and Otobong Ndem – went
ahead to impeach the Speaker without any Assembly staff or
paraphernalia of office in place. They declared Nse Ntuen as the
new Speaker of the House.
Ntuen described the process that led to their sack as illegal,
null and void as there were subsisting court orders to that effect.
He added that House rules and procedures were not duly and legally
followed before their seats were declared vacant.
He wondered why their seats would be declared vacant when a
member who defected to the PDP from the APC last year was not given
the same treatment. He argued that their decision would make the
legislature stronger.
“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 on 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
president of the Nigerian Senate is a minority member.
“We elected a new Speaker because Luke is not good enough. He is
incompetent and is being teleguided by the executive against our
quest to be independent,’’ he said.
Ntuen went a step further to suspend five legislators and issued
a statement, using a letterhead paper with his name as Speaker of
the House. He named new heads of the committees he constituted.
He has the support of the APC, which described the action of
Speaker Onofiok Luke as ‘political rascality’. The party insists
that all the five members whose seats were declared vacant have
pending cases in court against the action; hence the declaration
was null and void.
The state chairman of the party, Mr. Ini Okopido, argued that
the judgement against Idongesit Ituen was of no effect as the
Federal High Court and Justice F.O. Riman, who incidentally gave
the first ruling, had, on November 21, 2018, ordered a stay of
judgement pending the outcome of the appeal of Ituen in the Court
of Appeal.
“The ruling in respect of the stay of execution of the judgement
against Hon. Idongesit Ituen, which was adjourned to today,
November 21, 2018, had been delivered by the Federal High Court in
his favour.
“The APC in Akwa Ibom State cannot accept the act of impunity
and political rascality displayed by the former Speaker in
declaring the five seats of our members in the Assembly vacant.
“We stand by the decision of the lawmakers to elect a new
Speaker to lead the 6th Assembly. And we will support the new
Speaker, Hon. Nse Ntuen,’’ a statement by Okopido read.
The state chairman of the PDP, Mr. Paul Ekpo, also raised the
alarm that the APC had plans to use the Economic Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC) to freeze the accounts of the state government
and set Governor Udom Emmanuel in a collision course with President
Muhammadu Buhari.
“It is pertinent to note that we have uncovered a fresh plot by
the APC to use the EFCC to clamp down on the Akwa Ibom State
Government accounts. This is another desperate attempt by the APC
to paralyse the activities of the government of Akwa Ibom
State.
“In view of the foregoing, we demand that the Inspector-General
of Police and the Commissioner of Police in Akwa Ibom State to, as
a matter of urgency, cause the troops laying siege at the Akwa Ibom
State House of Assembly to vacate with immediate effect and cease
forthwith, further intimidation of officials of the Akwa Ibom State
Government and principal officers of the House of Assembly,’’ he
said.
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