AK House Of Assembly

There is palpable tension in the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly following the romance between the Speaker, Engr. Ignatius Edet and the governor of the state, Chief Godswill Akpabio. Global concord gathered over the week that some members of the House have gathered for the speaker's head.

Penultimate Thursday, the house couldn't sit due to what members described as the high handedness of the speaker and the disrepute the speaker is alleged to have brought to the house over his third term bid. Our source who preferred anonymity disclosed that the speaker has murdered legislative duties and has been running after the governor thereby neglecting his official responsibilities. “In the house, we do not have anything against the speaker's third term bid but how can you reconcile the fact that the speaker will abandon legislative responsibilities to be running errand for the Governor”, he asked rhetorically.

Speaking further, the source said: “Today either he is with the governor on a commissioning project or he is with the governor's brother why? Can you imagine the fact that the speaker will have to wait for as long as six hours to see the governor and sometimes he may not be able to see him, that is a humiliation and an insult on his person as a speaker. It is very bad that the speaker does not see anything wrong with that and worse of it all is that he can do anything to please the governor as long as his third term bid is guaranteed.

There is no time we go to see the governor and wait for a long time, the governor has always attended to us as a group but the actions of the speaker has since put the House to ridicule and we are now being regarded as a rubber stamp, one that cannot bark talk less of biting. As an elective representative of the people, we owe our constituency the debt of ensuring that we contribute our own quota to the sustainable development of our constituency and the state at large”, he fumed.

Despite the fact that the plenary session could not hold, some members of the House loyal to the speaker managed to hold a meeting at the floor of the House but dispersed shortly after. The House chairman on information, Hon Udo Darby denied information of any plot to impeach the speaker, but however confirmed that the House could not sit due to the speaker's absence. That Thursday, aggrieved members boycotted the sitting and headed straight to their vehicles after storming out of the speaker's office.

Some of them complained that the speaker has suddenly become the governor's errand boy and after keeping them waiting for so long, he was talking tough instead of apologizing to them. It could be recalled that several attempts to change the speaker has been unsuccessful as the governor have always come to his rescue.